The Darker Power
by SK Dark Dragon
Summary: A dark spirit dwells within a tournament prize of Bakura's, and it has begun to cause destructive things to happen to everyone.Will Yugi and his friends figure out in time how to stop it and it's secretive master?R+R! *COMPLETED!*
1. Chapter 1: Smooth Move

Chapter One: Smooth Move  
  
Yugi Motou stretched as he and his friend, Joey Wheeler sat on a bench in the middle of Domino City. Their other friends, Tea Gardner, Triston Taylor, Duke Devlin, Amber Johnson, Ryou Bakura, and Serenity Wheeler were sitting down at other benches, and the whole gang was enjoying the summer morning.  
  
It had been a week since Yugi and his friends had gotten back from their trip to the beach. It had been an interesting experience, as well as fun.  
  
"This has been some summer so far, huh Yug?" Joey asked as he waved his hand at a fly that was buzzing around near his head.  
  
Yugi nodded in agreement.  
  
"It certainly has," he said, looking at two birds as they flew around in the bright blue sky.  
  
Bakura looked at the ground.  
  
"Yes, but I only wish I could remember what had happened that day at the beach," he said, remembering how he had tripped and forgotten a whole day.  
  
"Well, that wasn't your fault," Yugi said hastily. "You couldn't help it."  
  
"Yeah, like remember that time when Kaiba was possessed by Yami Malik?" Triston added in.  
  
Everyone nodded. They remembered only too well what had happened, and were more than happy that Yami Malik was gone for good.  
  
Tea stood up and brushed bits of debris from the trees off her pants.  
  
"Does anyone want to go over to my house and make some smoothies?" she asked.  
  
Everyone's ears perked and they leaned over to look at her.  
  
"Smoothies?" Duke asked. "As in, smoothies made in a blender that takes about three hours and 4 tons of ice?"  
  
Amber made a face.  
  
"Let's save ourselves the trouble," she replied.  
  
Tea shook her head.  
  
"No, I mean like, smoothies made in a Smoothie Elite machine," she said with a grin. "I just got it a few days ago, and when Yugi and I tested it, they were wonderful, fast, and easy."  
  
"By all means then!" Joey cried, standing up excitedly. "Let's go!"  
  
Yugi shook his head with a smile. Joey was always interested in food of any sort. He's never seen him say no to any type of food; not even virtual reality food!!  
  
"Come on, Serenity!" Joey said, waving his arm as everyone got up to follow Tea.  
  
"Mm," Serenity nodded, running up to her brother.  
  
******  
  
Fifteen minutes later, the entire gang was at Tea's apartment, and they all crowded into her kitchen. She pulled a blue smoothie machine out of one of the cabinets and set it down on the counter.  
  
"So…what do you stick in a smoothie?" Amber asked, looking curiously at the machine.  
  
Tea shrugged.  
  
"Anything that's lying around," she said, pointing to her cabinets and refrigerator. "We'll have to make two batches to get a smoothie for everyone." she added.  
  
Yugi walked over to the refrigerator and opened the door. After rummaging around on the shelves for a moment, he finally pulled out a carton of something.  
  
"Lemonade?" he asked, holding it up.  
  
Tea nodded.  
  
"That always makes a great smoothie," she said, pouring some inside the blender part of the machine.  
  
Joey was rummaging around in the cabinets as well.  
  
"Crackers?" he asked, holding up a packet.  
  
Tea rolled her eyes.  
  
"I meant anything that would GO with a FRUIT smoothie," she snapped, taking the package away from him and sticking it back in it's box.  
  
"You've got lots of strawberry yogurt," Duke pointed out, holding up a few. "Does that go well?"  
  
  
  
"Sure," Tea said, still looking for something in the bottom shelf of a cabinet. "Dump a couple in."  
  
Duke and Triston opened the lids and poured the mix into the lemonade mixture.  
  
"Yuck," Joey commented, looking inside at the swirls of thick yogurt in the lemonade. "It looks gross."  
  
"It does now," Bakura said, pulling out the ice box. "But it'll be delicious when it's finished."  
  
Tea took the box from Bakura and set it on the counter. Then, she began dumping cube after cube of ice into the mixture.  
  
"And one more thing," she said, pulling out a strawberry mix. "This is the concentrate, which will make it thicker and fruitier. "Without it, they tend to taste like watered-down drinks."  
  
After pouring in the concentrate mix, she put the lid on and turned on the blender. A loud buzzing sound filled the room and the mix inside stirred itself, turning from yellow, to pink due to the strawberry yogurt and mix. After around 45 seconds, she turned off the blender.  
  
"Glasses!" she cried, realizing she'd forgotten them, and remembering how important it was to serve the smoothies right away.  
  
Amber and Serenity skidded over to the cabinet and pulled out several tall glasses. Serenity handed one to Tea and set the rest on the counter.  
  
Tea pushed down the nozzle and a thick stream of smoothie came out. After filling up four glasses, they made another mix, filled the rest of the glasses, and sat down in Tea's living room to enjoy their frozen treat.  
  
"Ah!" Joey sighed, sipping his drink. "Tasty!"   
  
"And refreshing," Serenity added, sipping hers carefully.  
  
"Aaa!" Triston cried, putting his down. "But it leaves you with a MAJOR frozen headache!"  
  
Everyone chuckled.  
  
"Try sticking your tongue to the roof of your mouth," Amber told her as she took another swig of hers.  
  
"Huh?" he asked.  
  
"It works," she said, through her smoothie.  
  
"Hey….you're right!" Triston said happily, going back to his drink. "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind next time."  
  
Amber grinned.  
  
After only ten minutes, nearly everyone had finished their iced treat. Empty glasses were strewn around Tea's neat den and the gang were lounging around.  
  
  
  
Triston and Bakura were watching a Spanish soap-opera on TV and Duke was chatting with Amber and Serenity.  
  
"Oh my!" Bakura cried as a woman on the show broke down in tears. "What happened to her?"  
  
"Don't ask me," Triston replied. "I don't even know one word in Spanish."  
  
"Then why are you watching a Spanish show?" Tea asked curiously.  
  
Triston shrugged.  
  
"Did you enjoy the smoothie, Yugi?" Yami asked his partner spiritually. (He had tried a smoothie the first time Tea made them)  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"Yeah, they are good," he replied.  
  
"Especially when there's nothing to worry about," he added.  
  
Yami nodded once again.  
  
  
  
"I'm glad we haven't had anymore encounters with lose Duel Monsters…though…" Yami trailed off.  
  
"What is it?" Yugi asked, concerned.  
  
"We never did find out who was behind all of the mess," Yami explained. "That means, the villain can strike back whenever he or she chooses since we don't know who they are."  
  
"True," Yugi nodded, trying not to think about another encounter like the last.  
  
"Hey guys," Amber called from where she and Duke were poking around in the refrigerator. "Who wants a second? Duke and I are going to make one!"  
  
"I do!" Everyone called.  
  
Bakura looked silently down at the ground as Tristan became absorbed in the show again. There was something he hadn't told the others yet, and maybe he should have, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.  
  
It was the Millennium Ring. When he had gotten home from his trip to the beach, he had taken off his sweater and found the Millennium Ring stuck inside of it. He had thought the ring was gone for good, but now he wasn't sure what he ought to do.  
  
If he tried to tell someone, would he get possessed again? He shifted around uncomfortably in the chair. But then again, it made him uneasy to be around Yugi and his friends, knowing that he was keeping something from them.  
  
"What should I do?" he thought sadly, then he got an idea.  
  
"Maybe I ought to tell Taerro," he thought, thinking of his book-worm friend. "Maybe he'll know what I should do, since we share the same problems sometimes…."  
  
But little did he know, Taerro was still possessed by his Yami; the spirit of the ancient artifact Taerro had accidentally broken. And little did he also know how much trouble he was getting himself into…  
  
*****  
  
End of Chapter One  
  
Please leave us a review and next chapter up soon!  
  
"Thanks for reading, and be prepared for some real interesting surprises!" 


	2. Chapter 2: The Wrong Prize

Chapter 2: The Wrong Prize  
  
Note: Silver Dragon Golden Dragon: Yami Bakura took his sweater to the beach to hide the Millennium Ring better. ;)  
  
Chapter 2: The Wrong Prize  
  
  
  
Yugi and his friends walked to their homes that afternoon, tired from their day's adventures. As Yugi walked, something puzzled him.  
  
"What bothers you, aibou?"(partner)Yami asked as he appeared beside his friend.  
  
Yugi shook his head.  
  
"It's nothing really," he replied, shaking his head. "Just..."  
  
"Just...?"  
  
Yugi sighed.  
  
"A few days ago, when I was talking about the tournament on the island of Madam Christina's, Taerro seemed a bit odd...almost shocked at something I had said," Yugi said, remembering Taerro's reaction. "And he seemed to be thinking an awful lot more after that and he went home without even saying good-bye to any of us earlier, before we went over to Tea's."  
  
"Maybe it's just painful for him to remember some of the things he did under the control of the evil spirit," Yami suggested.  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"That could be true..." He trailed off into his own thoughts.  
  
Yami cocked his head.  
  
"What could be so strange about Taerro's reaction?" he thought.  
  
******  
  
Yami Taerro walked down the sidewalk, lost in his deep thoughts concerning the tournament.  
  
"If I was drawn to the tournament because of a dark presence I had sensed on the boat with the prizes two days BEFORE the boats left," he pondered. "What I was sensing could not have been Yugi's Millennium Puzzle as I had previously thought, because although it WAS in the container with the other prizes and contained Shadow Magic, it was put in there the day the boat set sail; two days AFTER I sensed the first presence."  
  
"Which means..." Yami Taerro concluded as he approached Taerro's house and walked up the stairs. "I was sensing Shadow Magic from another one of the prizes; another one of those antiques."  
  
He sat down on the stairs outside Taerro's house and a strong wind blew his bangs into his face.  
  
"But which one?"  
  
******  
  
Meanwhile, at Domino Dock, a small boat pulled in. The stairs were lowered and the three passengers got off in the pale evening sun.  
  
"Finally!" Malik Ishtar said happily, stretching. "It's nice to be off the boat, right neesan?"(sister) he asked his older sister, Ishizu.  
  
"True," Ishizu replied, smoothing out her dress. It had become a bit wrinkled during the trip, as she spent most of it sitting down at a desk and reading.  
  
"Miss Ishizu?" Lishito asked looking around. "Perhaps would should ask for directions to Mr. Yugi's store."  
  
Ishizu nodded.  
  
"Yes," she agreed, looking for a taxi cab or bus. "But I sense a dark force from somewhere in the city…we must talk to him soon."  
  
Malik nodded.  
  
"I know, neesan," he agreed. "But although I trust your senses, I hope you're wrong about this dark force."  
  
Ishizu sighed, the wind blowing her hair back.  
  
"So do I, Malik."  
  
******  
  
  
  
Bakura walked into his bedroom and closed the door behind him. He pulled the Millennium Ring carefully out of his drawer and looked at it. A car passed by outside and caused light to glint off the Millennium Ring. Scared, Bakura threw it down on the desk, where it clinked next to the old bronze statue of a chicken that he had won at Madam Christina's tournament.  
  
The gold pointers clinked against the bronze, but Bakura didn't care if either chipped. He flopped down on his bed and sighed sadly.  
  
How could he live his life afraid any second that an evil spirit would possess him? He couldn't. But how would he explain to Yugi and his friends that he still had it?  
  
As he was lost in his thoughts, something from behind him caught his eye. He turned around because an odd glow was coming from the chicken statue on the table, where it sat next to the Millennium Ring.  
  
"What?" Bakura said softly, staring in amazement. "What in the..."  
  
Bakura watched as the chicken statue began to glow on its own. Bakura snatched his Millennium Ring up and put it back around his neck. Then, he looked at the statue.  
  
The beady eyes of the chicken suddenly lit and glowed bright red. The body of the chicken became purple and electric looking.  
  
Bakura backed away.  
  
"What the..." he said again as the statue rose up and let off a terrified purple shock that surrounded it.  
  
******  
  
Over at Kaibacorp, Seto Kaiba was busily typing on his lap top computer, sitting at the table in his dining room. It was late now, almost 11:20 at night, but he still had work to do.  
  
He yawned as he typed up another reply to his Frequently Asked Questions Concerning Duel Disks page on his website. (How to replace the batteries to a duel disk was a question that he had been receiving in e-mails quite frequently recently.)  
  
Rubbing his eyes, he shut down the computer and snapped it shut. Then, tucking it carefully under his arm, he turned off the lights and walked upstairs to get ready for bed.  
  
He checked inside Mokuba's room to make sure he was asleep. (Seto had tucked him in hours earlier) He was sleeping soundly and looked quite comfortable.  
  
Seto quietly shut the door and continued toward his room. He set his laptop on the desk and sleepily changed into his pajamas. Even without school, he'd been staying up later than usual, trying to improve certain aspects of his company.  
  
As he got in bed, he turned off his lamp on his bedside table and fell fast asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.  
  
******  
  
RING. RING. RING.  
  
The sharp ring of the telephone pierced the darkness of the night in Seto's bedroom. His heavy eyes snapped open and he groped around in the darkness for the phone. (Luckily, a light on the top of the phone lit up every time it rang, making it easier to find in the dark)  
  
"Yes, Kaiba," Seto answered, trying to sound profession and not worn out.  
  
"Kaiba," Came an anxious voice.  
  
"Duke Devlin?" Seto asked, recognizing the voice, sitting up further in bed. "What do you need?"  
  
"I don't need anything," he replied, still anxious. "But Amber and I were just watching the news and there's a small piece on some sort of explosion at Bakura's place. They're getting back to it as soon as the commercials are over."  
  
"Duke, come on!" Seto could hear Amber's feminine voice calling form somewhere in the room.  
  
"Just thought you might want to check it out. I'm calling the others too," Duke said as something crashed in the background. "What spilled?!" he heard Duke yell.  
  
"Just the lemonade," Amber called back. "The cat knocked it over."  
  
"Oh," Duke replied. There was a pause. "Wait! I don't own a cat!!"  
  
"Sorry, gotta go," Duke said in a hurry to Seto, finally getting back to the conversation, as Amber yelled at the cat. "Check it out if you want."  
  
"Thanks for the info," Seto replied icy and hung up the phone.  
  
He lay back in bed, but found it hard to sleep. After a minute, he pushed the covers back and walked out of his room and downstairs.  
  
"Why not check it out?" he thought, carefully picking up the remote and finding the correct channel.  
  
"AND WE HAVE THE BEST CAR DEALS IN..." Came a voice blaring out of the television set as Seto turned it on.  
  
He fumbled with the remote and turned the volume down to almost a whisper as the enthusiastic salesman on the TV finished his conversation about their unbeatable sales.  
  
Then, the news came back on.  
  
Flashing up on the screen was a picture of a house surrounded by police officers. There was yellow caution tape hung around the house and the officers were trying to keep curious neighbors from trespassing.  
  
"We're here live at the home of Madeline and George Lee, who today, were involved with a strange purple explosion that happened in the room of an exchange student who has been living with them for several months." A reported on the TV screen informed the viewers as she stood in the middle of the blocked off street, holding a microphone to her mouth.  
  
"Madeline and George said that the boy, Ryou Bakura, claimed that he had been sitting in his bedroom when the strange explosion occurred, burning his desk and his dresser nearby. The house has been cleared of inmates for investigation of the source of the explosion, although the answer to this mystery is still unknown. Officials believe it could have been an attack from..."  
  
Seto wasn't paying attention anymore. When it came to Ryou Bakura and strange occurrences, it usually had something to do with his Millennium Ring and the dark spirit who dwelled inside of it.  
  
But Seto wasn't about to admit that evil powers existed, although secretly he felt it was true. There had been a lot of odd, magical happenings going on in the past few weeks, and always a strange item or spirit seemed to be involved.  
  
"Maybe it's just coincidence," he thought sleepily.  
  
  
  
Seto wondered, leaning back on the couch, dropping the remote control on the table beside the couch. "It's probably just some prank by a group of kids." He thought to himself.  
  
His eyelids drooped.  
  
"Hmmm..." he wondered as he drifted off to sleep, the television still on.  
  
*****  
  
End of Chapter 2  
  
"Ooh, ooh! Shocker! It never DID make sense why Yami Taerro was lured to the island because of the puzzle, as he only realized it was there when he got to the island."  
  
True. Thanks for reading, and please review! 


	3. Chapter 3: The Chicken

Chapter 3: The Chicken  
  
"Wow, Bakura was involved with an explosion?" Yugi cried as he sat at the kitchen table with his Grandpa, watching the news. "I'm glad he wasn't near it. I wonder where he is now..."  
  
Grandpa leaned back in his chair, sleepily.  
  
"The reporter said everyone had cleared out, so he's probably at a hotel or something with the exchange family," he replied, standing up and stretching. "Well, I'm heading to bed. I'm too old to be staying up this late and expected to get up and run the Game Shop by 8:30!"  
  
Yugi laughed.  
  
"I'll be up in a second," he said, turning back to the TV screen. "Goodnight!"  
  
"Night," Grandpa called after him, walking upstairs.  
  
"Yami, what do you think of all this?" Yugi asked his spirit-friend as Yami appeared beside him.  
  
"I'm not sure, Yugi," Yami replied, gazing at the TV screen as well as the reporter continued to go on about the theories the police have deducted form the evidence. "It seemed as though we had banished him at the beach last week. I don't think this has anything to do with him, although I have been feeling the dark pulses more strongly now."  
  
"Dark pulses?" Yugi asked quizzically.  
  
Yami nodded.  
  
"Shadow Magic," Yami explained. "Ever since this evening, I've been feeling odd dark presences throughout the city, although I wasn't sure about them until now."  
  
Yugi looked up.  
  
"So you DO think Shadow Magic had something to do with this?" Yugi asked.  
  
Yami sighed.  
  
"I wish I knew for sure," he replied.  
  
Suddenly, there was a rap on the door. Yami disappeared as Yugi walked toward the door. He slowly opened it and gasped at who he saw.  
  
Malik, Ishizu, and Lishito were standing outside the door.  
  
"M..Malik! Ishizu!" Yugi said in surprise, opening the door wider. "Lishito, hi guys!"  
  
"Greetings, Yugi," Ishizu said politely, walking inside, her brother and Lishito following as Yugi stepped out of the way to let them in.  
  
"What brings you back to Domino?" Yugi asked as he led them into the kitchen where the new broadcast concerning Bakura was still playing.  
  
Ishizu sighed.  
  
"I've been sensing trouble, Yugi," Ishizu explained. "A few weeks ago, I started sensing danger when I was visiting you and your friends, but I hoped it had only been a misleading, or that the dangerous senses would disappear; but they didn't."  
  
"That's what Yami was saying this evening too!" Yugi cried as everyone took a seat around the table. "And then there was this news broadcast about an explosion at Bakura's place."  
  
"Bakura?" Malik asked, blinking. "Is he alright?"  
  
"They said no one was injured," Yugi assured him. "But I'd still like to know the cause."  
  
Lishito looked over at the television screen, which was now showing a shot of Bakura's burnt desk.  
  
"That seems to have been some explosion," he commented. "It is fortunate no one was hurt."  
  
Yugi nodded, then turned back to his guests.  
  
"Anyway, it's great to see you guys again," Yugi commented with a grin. "I mean, it's been only a few weeks since I've seen you, Ishizu, but I haven't see you, Malik, or Lishito in a long time; since the end of Battle City."  
  
Malik nodded.  
  
"And now, we're here to help you out," Malik declared, then looked nervously over at Yugi. "That is, if you want us too…"  
  
Yugi smiled.  
  
"Of course! Yami and I would both really like to find out who's behind these weird occurrences," Yugi said quickly. "And your welcome to stay here too, if you like."  
  
Ishizu smiled gratefully.   
  
"Thank you," she said. "And I hope we can be of help to you."  
  
******  
  
The next morning, Mokuba woke up early and stretched out in bed. He had slept well that night, and was actually glad his brother had insisted on him going to be early.  
  
Mokuba got dressed and walked out of his room, quietly closing the door behind him. Suddenly, he heard noises from downstairs. People talking in his living room!  
  
Mokuba crept quietly toward the stairs.  
  
"Please, no!" Came a woman's voice, shrill and scared. "Spare me!"  
  
"You stole my money! My treasure! Everything I worked hard for!" Came a stern and angry man's voice. "Why should I?!"  
  
There was a click of a gun being loaded and then a gunshot and a scream.  
  
Mokuba leapt up, scared, and ran to his brother's room. He opened the door and ran inside.  
  
"Ni-sama!" he cried, but Seto wasn't in the room. The bed was unmade and Seto was nowhere in sight. "Ni-sama?"  
  
Mokuba walked out of the room and tip-toed toward the stairs again, not daring to look down.  
  
"...and we'll be back to the feature movie after these messages," Mokuba heard a man's voice announce from in the living room.  
  
Mokuba let out a sigh of immense relief. There was no killer and dead woman in his living room; someone had left the TV on.  
  
Mokuba went downstairs and into the room, where he saw Seto lying out on the couch, sleeping soundly, the light from the TV illuminating him as the pictures on the screen flashed by.  
  
"Ni-sama?" Mokuba asked, bending down and gently shaking Seto's shoulder. "Why are you on the couch?"  
  
Seto's eyes opened and he looked up at Mokuba. It took him a second to remember why he was downstairs, and then it hit him.  
  
"Mokuba, good morning," he said calmly, sitting up and rubbing his head. The couch hadn't been the most comfortable place to sleep during the night.  
  
"Good morning," Mokuba replied as Seto flicked off the TV. "But what are you doing sleeping down here with the TV on?"  
  
Seto stifled a yawn and stood up.  
  
"I came down to watch the late news and fell asleep while watching," Seto explained as he patted Mokuba's head.  
  
  
  
"The late news?" Mokuba asked curiously as the two walked into the kitchen. "Why?"  
  
Seto opened a cabinet and pulled out a box of cereal.  
  
"Because Duke called me up in the middle of the night to watch some bit on an explosion at Bakura's house," he replied, pouring Mokuba a bowl of cereal. "He's fine, it just burned his desk a little," he added.  
  
"Well that's good," Mokuba said, getting the milk out as Seto poured himself a bowl of cereal as well. "I wonder what caused the explosion..."  
  
Seto and Mokuba were silent for a little while after that, think and eating their cereal. After ten minutes, Seto got up and dumped his bowl in his sink.   
  
"I'm heading over to Kaibacorp," Seto explained after getting dressed as he came back downstairs. "You can hang around here for a while if you want. I'll be back by lunchtime."  
  
Mokuba looked up from his cereal.  
  
"Okay, Ni-sama!(respected brother)" he said cheerily. "See you then!"  
  
Seto smiled, then walked out the door to go to his company.  
  
******  
  
Everyone else met over at Yugi's house, and everyone was interested in what had happened at Bakura's place during the previous evening.  
  
"Bakura!" Yugi cried when he walked into the Game Shop. "Are you all right?!"  
  
"I'm fine..." Bakura said honestly. "I was just a bit surprised last night, that's all."  
  
His eyes wandered over to Malik and Ishizu, who were eating breakfast at the kitchen table with Tristan, and Lishito who was washing the dishes, despite Yugi's attempts to persuade him not to.  
  
"Malik!" Bakura cried. "It's…been a while."  
  
  
  
Malik nodded.  
  
"Yeah, we're visiting Yugi right now to help him figure out who's been causing all this chaos lately," Malik explained.  
  
"What really happened at your house last night?" Amber asked, suspicious that Bakura was filling them in on the whole truth.  
  
Bakura sighed.  
  
"Well, you're right," he admitted. "There was more to it. I slammed my Millennium Ring down on the table and the chicken statue I won at Madam Christina's tournament went ballistic, turned purple, and started electric shocking my desk. Then, it flew out the window and into the woods."  
  
Everyone stared at Bakura in astonishment.  
  
"Really?" Duke asked, his jaw dropping.  
  
Bakura nodded sadly.  
  
"I don't know what to do!" he wailed. "Can you guys help me stop it before it hurts someone else?"  
  
Yugi put his arm comfortingly around Bakura's shoulder.  
  
  
  
"Of course we will, Bakura," Yugi assured him. "But you said Millennium Ring?"  
  
Bakura nodded again.  
  
"I'm sorry for not telling you before, but I found it caught up in my sweater," he said, frowning. "I was afraid to tell anyone in case…in case the evil spirit was still there."  
  
"Where is it now?" Yugi asked urgently.  
  
"I left it in my dresser," Bakura said. "We're not allowed to go back to our house yet until the police finish their investigation though."  
  
"Don't worry about it Bakura," Tea added with a smile. "We're friends, and we'll be happy to help you out."  
  
Bakura's eyes lit up.  
  
"Thanks," he said happily.  
  
*******  
  
Yami Taerro was following the bracelet around, it's dim or bright glow guiding him.  
  
  
  
"I've never seen it pick up such a strong connection," he muttered, looking ahead of him for any sign of a power source. "What is it sensing?"  
  
Suddenly, looking ahead of him, he saw the purple, electric chicken statue looming in the air. Yami Taerro raised an eyebrow at this.  
  
"What?" he asked suspiciously.  
  
  
  
His bracelet glowed bright blue and a huge, evil grin spread over Yami Taerro's face.  
  
"So THIS is the power source I've been sensing," he said evilly, walking toward it...  
  
******  
  
End of Chapter 3:  
  
Please Review, and next chapter up tomorrow! 


	4. Chapter 4: Power Trapped Power Released

Chapter 4: Power trapped; Power Released  
  
Note: I did actual research on the chicken, and most, in not all, of the facts Ishizu will state about the chicken in terms of mythology are true.   
  
"By the way, did you all know that the rooster is regarded as a symbol of courage? I wonder why they call you a chicken, then, if you a scared…."  
  
*shrug*  
  
******  
  
Chapter 4: Power Trapped: Power Released  
  
Yami Taerro walked over to the electric surrounded chicken, grinning.  
  
"So THIS is what I was originally drawn to," he breathed, walking around the floating statue, gazing at it with evil gleaming in his eyes.  
  
The statue let off a shock, but Taerro didn't back away. His narrow eyes were almost entranced by the glow of the statue.  
  
"Now to drain it of it's magical energies..." Yami Taerro though, holding out his bracelet to floating statue.  
  
"I wonder why this simple chicken would be stuffed with magical powers so strong? Did not the creator ever worry about the power being released?"  
  
Yami Taerro smiled again  
  
"No matter," he said, surrounding the chicken with his blue and purple glow. "I'll take its powers anyway."  
  
As the chicken was surrounded, it suddenly glowed even stronger than before, and let off an enormous shock that not only destroyed the blue ring trying to surround it, but also threw Yami Taerro backwards five feet.  
  
Gritting his teeth, Yami Taerro held out his bracelet once more. But the same result occurred; the chicken defended itself from the ring and shocked him.  
  
"This time I'll try to destroy the statue, then catch the powers as they are released," he thought angrily.  
  
A bright blue beam blasted out from the bracelet and smashed into the chicken before its electric force-field could rise up to protect it. The entire statue smashed it hundreds of pieces, which, as they fell to the ground, turned to dust.  
  
Hanging in the air, however, was a shadowy outline of what the statue had used to be. The purple-electric substance surrounding it and sparking off at odd moments.  
  
"Excellent," he thought, now attempting to take his prize. "Yes..."  
  
The shadow of the statue, however, gave off a pure shock, one not watered-down, so to speak, but the protective shell of the statue itself.  
  
The shock caused Yami Taerro to fall to the ground, and the shadow floated away. Yami Taerro looked up at it as it flew once again out of his grasp.  
  
"I WILL get that power," he declared, holding up fist. "I will."  
  
And as the chicken flew away, a mysterious voice called out to it, as if instructing it, "Go...go...go and destroy the owner...the owner and his nearest companions..."  
  
******  
  
Meanwhile, Yugi and his friends had decided to spilt up for the day; partially to look for clues as to where this evil was coming from, and partially just to have fun.  
  
Grandpa hadn't minded Ishizu, Lishito, and Malik's staying at their house for a while at all. In fact, he seemed happy to have more people around the house, although everyone was going somewhere different for the day.  
  
Amber and Duke were going to hang around Duke's place, where everyone would meet for dinner that night. Ishizu, Tea, and Lishito were going to the Domino Museum, Yugi, Malik, and Bakura were going to try to find a way to get the Millennium Ring out of Bakura's house, and Mai, Tristan, Joey, and Serenity were going to go to the other shops and stores in town to look for things, as well as for Mai to do her "Summer Shopping."  
  
"Didn't you already do summer shopping in that mall back at the beach?" Joey grumbled as Mai handed him a skirt she liked as they, Tristan, and Serenity walked through a clothing department of one of the stores downtown.  
  
"Of course not," Mai cried, sounding astonished. "That was only a few little necessities I needed at the time."  
  
"And all the beauty stuff we bought for our booth," Serenity added.  
  
Joey's jaw dropped as Mai handed him two blouses and a sweater.  
  
"This ought to do for now," she said, examining her soon-to-be purchases. "Come on guys, we have some other places to go now!"  
  
Joey groaned and slumped, as if the weight of a few pieces of clothing was too much for him.  
  
"Come on, Joey!" Mai insisted. "It's not THAT bad. Why don't you buy something too?"  
  
"'Cause I spend my money on Duel Monster cards, so there's nothing left for extra clothes," Joey said with a grin as he walked after Mai and his little sister.  
  
"Baka,(idiot)" Mai muttered with a sigh.  
  
******  
  
Meanwhile, over at Kaibacorp, Seto was typing on his computer, working on the code to another game of some sort. He rubbed his eyes again before turning back to the screen after gazing out the window behind his desk for a moment.  
  
Suddenly, the telephone beside his desk rang.  
  
"Kaiba," Seto answered sternly. "What?" he asked in disbelief, then his eyes narrowed.  
  
Seto hung up and sighed.  
  
"Idiot prank callers," he mumbled, going back to his typing.  
  
After another half hour or so of working on his latest project, he opened the internet service and went to the online newspaper to see if it contained an article on the Bakura story.  
  
After searching for a moment, he found one, but the only thing of interest was the picture of the charred desk and bedroom, as the article said almost, if not exactly, what the newsperson had said last night. Obviously, they had not found anymore leads.  
  
He printed the article, and then went back to his work.  
  
******  
  
Ishizu, Lishito, and Tea walked into the Domino Museum and were greeted by the fresh, air-conditioned smell of the building. No one seemed to be around, aside from a man at the front desk who looked as though he knew Ishizu.  
  
  
  
"Good morning, Miss Ishtar," he said cheerfully. "It's good to see you again. And who have you brought with you?"  
  
"Lishito," she pointed to him. "My…other brother in a sense, and this is Miss Tea Gardner," she pointed to Tea who waved nervously.  
  
"Ah, I see," The man replied, looking through some papers on his desk. "And what are you three looking for today?"  
  
"We're just browsing through," she said, taking her employee pass and two visitor passes, one for Lishito and another for Tea. "Thank you," she said as they passed through the spinning gate.  
  
"So…what are we looking at first, Ishizu?" Tea asked as they walked down the narrow corridors.  
  
"Miss Ishizu wants to see if there was any connection chickens in an ancient mythology," Lishito explained as they turned passed the Ancient Egypt section and into the Roman section.  
  
"Why are we skipping Egypt?" Tea asked, looking back at the section they had just passed.  
  
"I set up the entire Egyptian collection, and being Egyptian myself, Lishito and I would both know if a chicken held any importance in the Egyptian mythology," Ishizu explained as they continued to walk.  
  
"Oh, I see," Tea replied, feeling a bit stupid.  
  
Ishizu bent down and unlocked a glass box that held several large reference books. The case sat by the wall, underneath a large display of a real Roman shield that was hanging on the wall above it.  
  
Ishizu pulled out two books and handed one to Lishito and opened the other one herself.  
  
"See if you can find anything about chickens," she instructed, as Lishito began to skim through his book as well.  
  
Tea sighed and sat down on a bench across the room. She wasn't being very useful to either Ishizu, Lishito, or finding out who or what was after Bakura.  
  
"I should have gone with Yugi," she thought sadly, looking at the ground. "At least then I'd be doing something for someone."  
  
A cold gust suddenly blew by her, and, rubbing her arms, she looked around to see which window had been opened. Funny, there was no window in the room. Sun on the artifacts would cause some damage, she remembered.  
  
"It was probably just the air conditioning system," she thought to herself, but a sharp scratch made her look up.  
  
The shield above Ishizu and Lishito seemed to be coming lose from the wall. If it dropped now, Ishizu and Lishito would be creamed!  
  
"Get out of the way!" Tea cried as the shield starting to break off from the wall.  
  
She rushed forward and, in an attempt to get them out of the way, shoved them both over and landed on top of Ishizu. The shield came crashing to the floor moments later, when it struck the ground with a loud "clang" and rattled around on the floor for a minute before going still.  
  
Ishizu, Lishto, and Tea stayed in their stunned positions for a moment before blinking again and starting to get up.  
  
  
  
"I'm sorry," Tea apologized, getting up off of Ishizu's legs and helping her to her feet. "Why did that shield just break off, though?"  
  
Ishizu looked nervous. She shook her head.  
  
"I…I don't know," she said, examining the back of the shield. "I looks like…"  
  
"…the wire was not strong enough to hold it to the wall," Lishito finished, picking up the shield and heaving it over to the bench. "We should get it out of the way," he explained, laying it down on the bench.  
  
Ishizu nodded, then picked up her book again.  
  
"We should tell the manager to get stronger wire next time," she said to Lishito as he walked back over. "That could have killed us if Miss Tea hadn't been here."  
  
Tea blushed slightly.  
  
"Anyway, almost exactly when you shoved me out of the way, Miss Tea, I had discovered what special powers the chicken was supposed to have had," she said, opening to the page again. "It says that the chicken was thought to be sacred to the Roman god Mars, the god of war, they though. The rooster can also be a symbol of courage."  
  
"I think Bakura's statue was a rooster," Tea thought, thinking back. "But anyway, why does it matter if the chicken was sacred to Mars in their mythology?" she asked, confused.  
  
Ishizu sighed as the locked the books away.  
  
"Because, like the Millennium Items, this chicken could be an old artifact with magic sealed in it," Lishito explained. "If we can discover the possibility of WHY it was made, we might be able to find to a way to destroy it."  
  
Tea nodded slowly, it all beginning to make sense now…  
  
****  
  
End of Chapter Four  
  
Chapter Five will be up tomorrow morning!  
  
"In the meantime, please review! Thanks so much for reading!" 


	5. Chapter 5: The First Hit

Chapter 5: The First Hit  
  
Yugi, Bakura, and Malik walked down the quiet neighborhood street, listening to the birds twitter in the trees as they walked.  
  
"Hopefully, we'll find some way to retrieve your Millennium Ring so it can help us out here," Yugi explained as Bakura's house came into sight.  
  
"How can my ring help?" Bakura asked Yugi, raising an eyebrow. "I don't know anything about it except that an evil spirit used to live in there, and could still be, for all I know, and that it points to Millennium Items with its little pointer things."  
  
"And it can also point to other things you want, like, for instance, the chicken statue," Yugi said slyly with a grin. "You said the ring's contact with it activated it, so it must have similar structure to the Millennium items."  
  
Bakura nodded.  
  
  
  
"I guess you're right," he said in agreement finally.  
  
As they approached Bakura's house, they saw it was still roped off by the "caution" tape strips, apparently trying to prevent anyone from entering the house. There were no police or police cars around, the only car in the driveway being Bakura's exchange family's van.  
  
Malik, Yugi, and Bakura stopped walking where the tape began.  
  
"Now what?" Bakura asked sadly. "If we try to go in, we'll probably get arrested."  
  
Malik shook his head.  
  
  
  
"I don't want to get arrested on top of everything else. I just want my Millennium Ring back!" Bakura said determinedly.  
  
Suddenly, something gold flew through an open window, and zoomed straight over to Bakura, who caught it, looking highly shocked. It was the Millennium Ring.  
  
"My goodness!" Malik cried, stepping backwards. "Why didn't you tell us you could do that, Bakura?"  
  
"It…it came to me because…because I asked for it?!" he asked in disbelieve looking at the item he had just caught.  
  
Yugi nodded slowly.  
  
"I guess the Millennium Ring and its owner have a link, so you can will that ring to you whenever you want," Yugi explained as Bakura turned the ring over to examine it further. "That's probably how that evil spirit kept getting it back all the time, no matter where we put it."  
  
Bakura nodded slowly.  
  
Malik sighed.  
  
"Well, now that the ring and Bakura are "reunited," let's see if the Millennium Ring can help us out here," Malik said, pointing forward boldly.  
  
"Go on, Bakura," Yugi said encouragingly as Bakura timidly held out the Millennium Ring, almost afraid to accept its powers.  
  
"Ring, show us the way to the chicken," Bakura said with a frown, realizing how stupid it sounded.  
  
The ring shook for a moment in his hands, then, two of the large golden pointers rose up and pointed forward, into the woods.  
  
Bakura nodded with determination.  
  
"All right," he said, turning to Yugi and Malik. "I guess this is where we start."  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"Hmm, let's go then," Malik declared.  
  
******  
  
Meanwhile, over at Duke's house, Duke and Amber were rummaging around in Duke's pantry for something interesting to cook for dinner.  
  
"You seem to have lots of TV dinners," Amber said with a silly look on her face as she looked in the freezer. "Let's try those."  
  
"No, no, no," Duke protested, shutting the freezer. "We need something REAL."  
  
"I don't think there's enough quantity of anything real," Amber sighed.  
  
"There's got to be SOMETHING in h ere we can have," Duke said out loud, bending over and fishing through another cabinet.  
  
Amber shrugged.  
  
  
  
"How about…a pizza?" she asked with a grin.  
  
"Forget it," Duke replied without turning around. "Last pizza I tried to make stuck to the pan, the sauce wasn't enough….no way."  
  
"No, silly, I meant ORDER a pizza," she said rolling her eyes.  
  
  
  
Duke turned around, as though the idea intrigued him.  
  
"Well, I suppose that way we wouldn't have to cook or wash dishes," he said slowly. "Yeah! I'm just going to run down to the store to go get some paper plates for us to use."  
  
He ran over to the door and opened it.  
  
  
  
"I'll be back in 20 minutes!" Duke called as he closed the door.  
  
Amber blinked.  
  
"Oookay," she said out loud, looking around Duke's now empty and quiet house. "Guess I'll just…watch TV or something." she added, flopping down on the couch and flipping on the TV.  
  
*****  
  
Ten minutes later, Duke was on his way home again, swinging the bag of paper plates as he walked.  
  
"Ah, what a beautiful day," he commented, looking around.  
  
Some kids were playing in the park, people eating picnics, and a nice dog was running by and barking happily. Although, unseen by any mortal, the spirit was hovering around. It turned its eyes to Duke, and narrowed them.  
  
"Friend of owner," The same misty voice flowed through the spirit's mind. "Destroy."  
  
The spirit flew down and went inside the dog that was just passing Duke.  
  
"Hello there," Duke said happily, waving at the dog as it stopped running.  
  
The dog suddenly turned around to show its red eyes and now strange…almost purplish glow.  
  
"Uh…" Duke stammered, backing away. "Good bye!"  
  
The dog lunged at him and grabbed the bag of paper plates. As it tore the bag apart Duke tried to turn around, but the dog lunged out at him too, and sank its teeth into his left arm.  
  
"Ow!" Duke cried, smashing his right hand down on the dog. "Let go!"  
  
The dog backed up and prepared to lunge again, but Duke reached into his pocket and tossed a handful of dice at it. He then turned and ran away from the howling dog.  
  
*******  
  
Meanwhile, Ishizu, Tea, and Lishito had made their way over to the library to use the internet, as no one felt like going all the way back to Tea's house to do their research.  
  
"So what is it we're looking for now?" Tea asked pacing around behind Ishizu, who was using the computer. Lishito was looking for the book in the shelves.  
  
"It's a very old book on Roman mythology," Ishizu said, typing in the book and looking for owners. "I just want to see if we can find a copy and use it for a bit…but I probably won't have much luck as the book is quite rare."  
  
A list of owners in the Domino Area popped up, and Ishizu scrolled down the short list of names to see if there was anyone she knew who could lend the book to her.  
  
"Hey," Tea said, pointing to one name on the screen. "Gozabro Kaiba?"  
  
"Who is that?" Ishizu asked, looking up at Tea who was bending over her.  
  
"Well, he WAS Seto Kaiba's adopted father, but he's dead now," she explained quickly. "But that doesn't matter. If it says HE owns it, it probably belongs to Seto Kaiba now."  
  
  
  
Ishizu's face lit up.  
  
"I'm sure he wouldn't mind letting us use it," she said cheerfully, copying down his address. "Let's pay him a visit."  
  
Tea nodded.  
  
******  
  
Duke staggered back home, holding his arm tenderly.   
  
"Stupid dog," he muttered as he rang the doorbell.  
  
A few seconds later, Amber flung the door open.  
  
"It's about time! You said only 15.…" She stopped and gasped. "Duke what did you do to yourself?!" she cried, pulling him by his good arm into the house.  
  
"Dog attacked me," Duke said angrily.  
  
"What did you do to it? Kick it?" she asked, dragging him into the kitchen.  
  
"No! I waved and said "hi" to what I THOUGHT was this friendly dog, but then it turned around all mean looking and attacked me," Duke protested.  
  
Amber sighed as she washed off the bite.  
  
"Sheesh, he must have been pretty ticked off to bite like this," she said, putting a bandage around it.  
  
"Thanks," Duke mumbled, crossing his arms with difficulty.  
  
Amber suddenly, frowned.  
  
"Did that dog have a collar?" she asked suddenly.  
  
Duke shrugged.  
  
"I don't think so," he replied. "Why?"  
  
Amber put her hand to her head.  
  
  
  
"Great," she sighed, walking over to the telephone.  
  
"What?" Duke asked, looking over at her.  
  
"Well, if it bit you, and didn't have a collar, then you need to get rabies shots," Amber said with a sigh, picking up the phone.  
  
  
  
"Shots?!" Duke cried, then sighed and slumped back into a chair. "Great day this is turning out to be."  
  
******  
  
Meanwhile, Yugi, Malik, and Bakura were following the trail led by the Millennium Ring.  
  
  
  
"We're probably deep in the forest by now," Bakura commented, looking around at the tall trees with so many branches it blocked the light from coming inside.  
  
"It's like we're in a house," Yugi added. "One with no electricity."  
  
Suddenly, a rattling in the bushes made them all turn around. Two more Millennium Ring pointers pointed forward into the bush, while the other two still pointed sideways.  
  
"There's something else with dark powers in there," Malik said seriously, backing away.  
  
"Oh no!" Bakura cried.  
  
****  
  
End of Chapter 5  
  
"Poor Duke! I wouldn't want rabies shots!" 


	6. Chapter 6: Puzzles and Answers

Chapter 6: Getting Puzzles, Finding Answers  
  
Note: To anyone who said Yami Taerro was the one hiding in the bushes, you were right. ;)  
  
And Lady of the Thread: Though you asked this about my last story, the reason Yami Taerro goes after Amber is because he likes her bold spirit, but doesn't want to have to bother with Yugi or someone else really strong and end up getting caught. So basically he's praising her for being strong, then using her because she's weak.  
  
"Such goes the mind of an evil villain…" - Red Archery Girl  
  
Ehe…Okay. On with the story. -Seto-Kaiba   
  
PS: Sorry again for the errors before.  
  
*******  
  
Chapter 6:  
  
  
  
Bakura, Yugi, and Malik backed away as the bushes rustled again.  
  
"What is it?" Malik asked, looking worriedly over at Yugi.  
  
"Yugi? Bakura? Is that you?" Came a familiar voice from inside the bushes.  
  
Bakura looked up to see who had called his name. Coming out of the bushes, looking slightly beat up, was Taerro, looking pleased to see Yugi, Malik, and Bakura.  
  
"Taerro?" Yugi asked sounded astounded. "What are you doing in here?"  
  
"I…I was just looking around," he lied quickly, brushing leaves out of his hair. "You know; see the scenery and stuff."  
  
"I…guess…" Yugi agreed, though rather suspiciously.  
  
  
  
"Who is he, Yugi?" Malik asked curiously.  
  
"Oh!" Yugi cried, slapping his forehead. "Taerro, this is our friend Malik, and Malik, this is Taerro."  
  
"Nice to meet you," Malik said with a wave.  
  
"Anyway, what are you guys doing?" Taerro asked, abruptly switching topics.  
  
"Looking for Bakura's mad chicken statue. It's blowing stuff up!" Yugi exclaimed.  
  
Taerro was silent for a moment.  
  
"They are looking for the statue too?" he asked himself. "Hmmm…"  
  
"Anyway," Yugi interrupted. "It would be nice if you could help us out a little. We're going to search for a bit longer, then we're all heading over to Duke's place for dinner."  
  
"Ah….okay! Sure!" Taerro agreed quickly.  
  
Bakura however, had remained quiet all this time. Neither Yugi nor Malik seemed to wonder why the Millennium Ring would point to Taerro if he wasn't possessed. There was only one answer to that, Bakura knew, and it was that Taerro was STILL possessed.   
  
Uneasily, Bakura began to lead the way again with his ring guiding him.  
  
******  
  
Amber and Duke were walking down the street again. They'd already gotten Duke his shots (not that he'd really wanted them in the first place) and were on their way home.  
  
"Well this was a waste of an afternoon," Duke said sadly. "Not to mention painful."  
  
Amber shrugged.  
  
"Maybe we'll just go home, sit down, and order that pizza before everyone comes over," Amber suggested.  
  
Duke would have shrugged, but he didn't want to hurt his arms anymore than they already had been. Instead, he sighed.  
  
"Sure."  
  
He looked up at the sky as black clouds were swirling around, coming closer to Domino. Duke started to run, Amber following the suit.  
  
"Well, let's just get home before the rain hits!" Amber called.  
  
"Yeah!" Duke replied as the two sprinted down the sidewalk.  
  
*****  
  
Tea, Ishizu, and Lishito walked up toward the Kaiba Mansion, and looked over the gate.  
  
"What do we say?" Tea asked. "We have a meeting or something?"  
  
Lishito turned to Ishizu who pressed a button on the gate.  
  
"Who is it?" Came a man's voice no one recognized.  
  
"Ishizu Ishtar. I would like to speak to Mr. Kaiba about something important," she informed the man on the other end of the speaker.  
  
There was a pause.  
  
"Ishtar….Ishtar…no you're not on this list here," the voice replied. "Let me check with Mr. Kaiba."  
  
There was a boom of thunder in the distance and Tea shivered.  
  
"I hope that guy gets back here soon," she muttered. "I don't want to be outside during an electrical storm."  
  
Suddenly, a loud beeping sound was heard and the gates flung open.  
  
"All right," Came the man's voice. "Mr. Kaiba is expecting you."  
  
"Thank you very much," Ishizu replied, walking past the gates with Tea, and Lishito behind her.  
  
A moment later, they were all up at the house. Lishito knocked on the door as rain started to pour down behind them. The door opened to reveal Seto and Mokuba.  
  
"Ishizu," Seto sighed, opening the door for she and the two others to come in. "What is it this time?"  
  
"Not what you think, I'm sure," she replied, walking inside and Seto shut the door.  
  
"Really? I would have guessed you were going to talk more about the ancient past," Seto said, crossing his arms. "So what are you here for?"  
  
"There was an old, and highly rare, book on Roman Mythology that your…father owned. I assumed you would still have it and was curious as to if we could borrow it," she said calmly.  
  
Seto raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Hey, I think I know which one they're talking about," Mokuba said, running out of the room.   
  
Several minutes passed in which time no one did anything except stare at the ground, then, Mokuba returned holding a large, red covered book with a picture of a three headed dog on it.  
  
"This it?" he asked Ishizu, holding it out to her.   
  
Ishizu took it and flipped through.  
  
"Yes," she said with a smile. "Thank you."  
  
Thunder cracked outside and the rain was now pouring down so heavily you could hear it beating off the roof. Seto sighed.  
  
"You can research in the library upstairs," he offered, walking for the stairs.   
  
"And you shouldn't leave until the rain lets up," Mokuba added in, following his brother.  
  
"Thank you," Lishito said, and he, Ishizu, and the ever-quiet Tea walked upstairs.  
  
*****  
  
"Ah! It's raining Yugi!" Bakura cried, putting his hands over his head and starting to run.  
  
  
  
"Let's go get a cab and get to Duke's place!" Yugi cried, pulled Bakura, Malik, and Taerro backwards with him.  
  
"Right!" Bakura cried as a large leave above him became too heavy with falling rain and spilled the contents all over him, drenching his hair. "Quickly!" he added.  
  
*****  
  
Mai, Serenity, Triston, and Joey were hurrying through the rain toward Mai's car. Everyone got in, got buckled, and Mai took off.  
  
"I hate to disappoint you, Mai," Joey muttered. "But we ain't much better off in your car either; it's a convertible with no hood."  
  
"I KNOW THAT!" Mai cried angrily, swerving around a corner. "I'm just trying to get to Duke's, then we can worry about the care, ok?"  
  
"Whatever you say, man," Triston said with a frown.  
  
*****  
  
Rain continued to pour down outside of the Kaiba mansion. Ishizu was looking through the Roman Mythology book, and Lishito and Tea were attempting to play a game of chess on the table, Mokuba coaching them.  
  
A faint dripping sound made Mokuba look up from the game.  
  
"Hey!" Mokuba cried, looking at the wall. "Ni-sama, I think the wall is leaking!"  
  
Seto stood up and walked over to the wall. Sure enough, a steady stream was pouring inside and piling itself up on the rug. Seto sighed and walked for the door of the library.  
  
"I'll be back in a while," he said shortly.  
  
"Where are you going?" Mokuba asked, getting up.  
  
"To fix the wall," he replied, and shut the door.  
  
Outside, the rain was coming down harder and it beat down on Seto as he walked over to the shed to get some roofing tar to plug the hole with. He sighed as he pulled down on the cord hanging lose from the ceiling of the old shed and a signal light bulb flicked on.  
  
  
  
"Today has not been the best," he thought to himself, his eyes adjusting to the light of the shed.  
  
After searching around for a few minutes, he found the tar and flicked off the lights. Unseen by him, the spirit was hovering above the shed.  
  
"Friend of owner…"   
  
The spirit quickly shocked a shingle on the shed, causing it to slip off the roof and fall down…landing right on Seto's head. Seto staggered backward and fell over, unconscious.  
  
******  
  
Half an hour later, Ishizu looked up from the book she had been reading.   
  
"Is Seto not finished with that hole yet?" she asked, looking around and seeing the water still dripping in.  
  
"I wonder what Kaiba's doing out there," Tea muttered, glancing at her watch.  
  
"I'm sure Ni-sama is just finding the right equipment…" Mokuba said somewhat confidently.  
  
Ishizu turned to Tea and Lishito who were still playing chess.  
  
"Lishito, could you go see if he needs any help?" she asked.  
  
Lishito nodded and stood up.  
  
"Come back soon, Lishito!" Tea called after him. "So we can finish the game!"  
  
Lishito nodded again and walked out the door.  
  
******  
  
Seto opened his eyes and saw he was lying in his yard in the pouring rain, positively soaked to the bone. He sat up and rubbed his head.  
  
"What happened?" he asked himself, looking around for some clue.   
  
Suddenly, he spotted the shingle on the floor beside him. He picked it up, got up on a latter and then looked up on the roof. The tar holding the shingle on had been melted away.  
  
"This is odd," he muttered, looking from the shingle to the roof where it was now missing a shingle. "Either the tar melted away during the day, and the rain broke it loose, or something else tried to make it fall loose…"  
  
He climbed down the latter, shivering. How long had he been out in the rain?  
  
"It doesn't matter," Seto though, picking up the tar and walking toward the house again. "It was probably just a…coincidence…"  
  
But even as he said these words, he couldn't quite convince himself they were true.  
  
*****  
  
  
  
End of Chapter 6  
  
Please Review, and thanks for reading.  
  
"Come back tomorrow morning because we'll probably post a new chapter then!" ;) 


	7. Chapter 7: Night of Unusual Events

Chapter 7: The Night of Unusual Events  
  
Note: "Silver Dragon Golden Dragon: Unfortunately, the spirit is a bit more dangerous than a salt or pepper shaker. I'm sure actually that if it were a salt shaker, Yami Taerro would have very good luck, as he cracked the shell, which would have spilled the salt." ^_^  
  
  
  
Okay, Red. Enough of that nonsense. I'm trying to get these chapters more organized and detailed. Let me know if you see any improvement as compared to the previous chapters.  
  
"Okay! Here we go!"  
  
******  
  
Chapter 7:  
  
Seto walked in the house minutes later. (It took him less than ten seconds to plug the hole with the tar.) He shut the door behind him and sighed. He was cold, wet, and had a headache from where the shingle had hit him.  
  
Lishito walked downstairs.  
  
  
  
"Mr. Kaiba," he said as Seto walked upstairs. "We were all wondering what was keeping you."  
  
"Nothing," Seto replied, a tickle in his throat, although Lishito had never asked what he had been doing in the first place.  
  
"Oh," Lishito replied as Seto took a turn toward his own bedroom, so he would stop dripping on the carpets.  
  
Lishito walked back into the library.  
  
"So? Where's my ni-sama?" Mokuba asked, standing up.  
  
Lishito shrugged.  
  
"He just walked in. Said nothing had been keeping him, though I don't quite believe him. He was soaked and walked off to his room to get changed," Lishito explained.  
  
"I'll go check on him," Mokuba announced running to the door. "Oh, watch out Lishito," he added. "Tea's got a killer move if you don't do something about your queen."  
  
Lishito looked down at the board and began to concentrate as Mokuba closed the door behind him. Mokuba walked down the hall and knocked softly on his brother's door. Rain could still be heard splashing on the roofs and running down the gutters.  
  
"Yes?" Seto asked after a minute, opening the door wearing dry clothes. "Oh, Mokuba."  
  
"Hi, Ni-sama," he said cheerfully. "What kept you outside?"  
  
Seto sighed.  
  
"Well, outside, when I was leaving the shed, a shingle fell off the roof and hit me," Seto explained, trying to make it sound as insignificant as possible as he and Mokuba walked slowly down the red-carpeted hallways.  
  
Mokuba nodded, looking horrified.  
  
"Are you…"  
  
"I'm fine," Seto said quickly with a small smile.  
  
"That's good," Mokuba sighed. "But still, what kept you? Did you get knocked out or something?"  
  
Seto paused, then nodded.  
  
"Only for a few minutes," he added.  
  
"We really ought to get someone to look at those shingles and replace the old ones sometime," Mokuba suggested as they found themselves once again outside of the library.   
  
Seto nodded slowly as he reached out for the doorknob.  
  
"Ni-sama? Are you sure you're okay?" Mokuba asked, his eyes looking up at his older brother.  
  
"Yes." Seto replied, opening the door and walking in to join the others.  
  
Tea was now reading a mystery story she had found lying around, Lishito was trying to figure out what he could have done to stop Tea's great chess move, and Ishizu was reading the Roman Mythology book with wide eyes.  
  
"Is something wrong?" Seto asked her, looking down at the book over her shoulder.  
  
Ishizu didn't answer.  
  
"Ishizu?" Mokuba asked, and everyone turned to look up at her.  
  
Ishizu blinked and looked up.  
  
"What's wrong?" Tea asked cocking her head.  
  
"Well," Ishizu started, closing the mythology book. "It appears that I've done a bit of research on the chicken, and a main thing that keeps sticking out in these pages is the fact the rooster is the symbol of courage."  
  
"What does that have to do with anything?" Tea asked, walking over to Ishizu.  
  
Ishizu closed her eyes.  
  
"Maybe nothing," she said. "But it could also have a lot to do with the way to stop this evil."  
  
She stood up and faced Seto.  
  
"Seto, what kept you outside?" she asked suddenly.  
  
Seto looked startled. He didn't want anyone else to know he'd been hit with a shingle.  
  
"I ran into a little problem in the shed," he said truthfully.  
  
Ishizu raised an eyebrow.  
  
  
  
"I should have expected you'd never tell us what really happened," she said with a slightly proud smile. "But it doesn't matter. I think that the evil within that statue was the cause of what happened to you outside.  
  
"Now that," Seto laughed, or tried to laugh. "Is the most ridiculous explanation I have ever heard. A shingle was loose, that's all."  
  
Ishizu didn't look convinced.  
  
"I should have also known you wouldn't believe me," she said simply. "But until we find out how to track down and defeat this evil, we must be careful."  
  
Lishito nodded.  
  
"And, unfortunately, the rain won't let up," Mokuba broke in. "Why don't you all just spend the night in one of the guest rooms?"  
  
"Oh," Tea said, looking down. She hadn't planned on staying at the Kaiba Mansion over night. In fact, she had REALLY planned on going to Duke's house with everyone else.  
  
"Well," Tea said, looking at the ground rather than at Seto. "Thank you. But let me call up the others and tell them where we are."  
  
"Fine," Seto replied, pointing toward a phone on a table. "Go ahead."  
  
*****  
  
The cab Yugi, Malik, Bakura, and Taerro were in suddenly swerved as it turned a sharp corner.  
  
"Ah!" Bakura cried, smashing against the window.  
  
"Are we hydro-planning?" Taerro asked as the cab jerked wildly around.  
  
"We were," the cab driver replied as the car returned to a smooth and slow ride. "But I've got it under control."  
  
His windshield wipers were running wildly, trying to get the streaming rain off of the window shield.  
  
"This is going to be my last trip today," the driver commented, pulling up at Duke's house. "It's not safe out here anymore.  
  
Yugi, Malik, Bakura, and Taerro got out of the cab and stepped into the pouring rain.  
  
"This is pleasant," Bakura said sarcastically as rain beat down on him, drenching his hair and clothes.  
  
"Actually, it is," Malik commented, not trying to shield himself from the rain. "In Egypt, we don't get downpours like this."  
  
He closed his eyes and let the rain pour down on him. Thunder struck overhead.  
  
"Thanks," Yugi called quickly to the cab driver, giving him a bill and waving.  
  
"Come on guys," he said to Malik, Bakura, and Taerro.  
  
Malik opened his eyes and hurried after Yugi, Bakura and Taerro behind him. They hurried up to the stoop of Duke's house and knocked on the door. Bakura squeezed out his long hair as they heard someone running for the door.  
  
The door opened and Amber looked out at them.  
  
  
  
"Hey guys!" she said cheerfully, opening the door wider for everyone. "Come on in. Joey, Mai, Triston, and Serenity are already here, but Tea just called and said she, Ishizu, and Lishito were spending the night at Kaiba's place because of the weather."  
  
"I see," Malik said, taking note.  
  
"And you guys are welcome to stay over here," Amber added, leaving them into the next room.  
  
Yugi wiped his shoes off on the doormat before walking into the house. It was noisy, but cozy feeling inside the room. Joey and Triston were playing video games, Mai was teaching Serenity to play Duel Monsters, and Duke was watching TV on the couch. (It looked as though Duke had dragged the TV in from another room, as it would be silly to ordinarily have two televisions in the same room)  
  
"Hey Yug!" Joey called, noticing Yugi's arrival not by turning around, but by his reflection on the TV screen where he was playing.  
  
"Hi Joey," Yugi said, walking over to him.  
  
"What happened to you?" Bakura asked Duke, noting three band-aids and a large gauze bandage on his friend.  
  
"Dog bite, and rabies shots," Duke mumbled. "My arms feel like they're dead."  
  
"I feel sorry for you," Bakura said, truthfully.  
  
"Thanks," Duke muttered with a sigh, flicking off the TV. "Well, now that everyone's here, we might as well order that pizza before the rain scares the delivery boys off the roads."  
  
Amber laughed.  
  
"Sure thing!" she said walking into the kitchen to get the telephone and make the call.  
  
Unsurprisingly, Joey and Tristan followed her.  
  
******  
  
That night, Tea shifted around in the guest bed. The room had been nice, and she didn't have to share it with anyone, but it was still made her feel uncomfortable. The sheets were starched and stiff, and the pillow was not something she was used to.  
  
And she had to sleep in her clothes, as she hadn't planned on spending the night and there were no girls living at the Kaiba Mansion who would have clothes her size.  
  
"I guess it's no worse than the Battle Ship," she said to herself, remembering how she'd had to sleep in her clothing there as well. "At least here I've got a bed. On the ship, I just slept in a chair."  
  
She closed her eyes and tried to go to sleep.  
  
In the room beside her, Ishizu was soundly asleep, and across the hall, Lishito was also sleeping. Tea could tell by the snoring.  
  
"I guess I'm the only one still awake," she sighed punching the pillow and then laying back down on it.  
  
******  
  
Far away, a woman was sitting on a chair, her eyes close as in almost meditation. In her mind, she saw the spiritual outline of her tool of destruction.  
  
"Why has nothing happened yet?" her voice echoed through the tool's. "Why are you not causing the chaos you are supposed to?"  
  
The chicken did not, and could not reply. It hung in mid-air outside of the Kaiba Mansion, waiting for an order.  
  
"Cause chaos," she whispered. "Chaos!"  
  
  
  
The chicken flew off, to obey the order.  
  
*****  
  
Over at Duke's house, nearly everyone was asleep, or rather, in their "bed." Duke had his own room, and Amber had the guest room. Serenity shared the bed with Amber and Mai took the couch in the den. Joey and Triston were still playing video games, unconcerned at the moment where they should sleep. Yugi, Bakura, Malik, and Taerro were sleeping in sleeping bags on the floor of the den and the kitchen, and most were so tired they fell asleep, despite Joey's cheers and the video game's noises.  
  
Duke rolled over in bed and grimaced.  
  
"Ow," he said softly, realizing a moment too late that rolling over on his arm was not a good idea.   
  
He tried to adjust his position again, but it seemed that either sleeping on his back, or his stomach were the only options, neither of which were very comfortable to him.  
  
He sighed.  
  
"This is going to be a long night," he said sadly.  
  
******  
  
At the Kaiba Manor, Tea's eyes were drifting shut. She was started to doze off, when a loud crash and a shriek of some sort woke her up again. She sat up in bed, her heart pounding. What had that noise been, and had it been another attack from the evil spirit?  
  
******  
  
End of Chapter 7  
  
Please R+R, and let me know what you thought of this chapter.  
  
"And randomly, does any 


	8. Chapter 8: Stranger in the House

Chapter 8: The Stranger in the House  
  
Note: You got it, Silver and Golden! ;)  
  
******  
  
Chapter 8: The Stranger in the House  
  
Tea sat in bed for a minute, her heart pounding. What had that terrible noise just been? Suddenly, she heard a door slam and she held her breath. Someone was in the mansion, and from the sounds of the footsteps in the hall, it sounded as though they were coming straight for her room!  
  
As Tea sat there, waiting with bated breath, the door to her room suddenly flung open, revealing a tall, shadowy person standing there in the doorway.   
  
Tea shrieked and stepped off her bed and backwards toward the wall.  
  
"What's wrong?" Asked a very familiar voice, and Tea stopped.  
  
She reached out and turned on the lamp on the table beside her bed, illuminating the room. Seto Kaiba was standing in the doorway, looking puzzled.  
  
"What's wrong?" he repeated, more impatient than before.  
  
"I…I heard a crash and scream…" Tea stammered, walking over to the door. "And," She swallowed. "And I thought you might be a burglar when you opened the door." She admitted.  
  
Seto raised an eyebrow.  
  
"I heard the crash and scream too, but I'm not a burglar, as you can see," he said, turning around.  
  
"Where are you going?" Tea asked, racing after him as he walked down the hall.  
  
"To see what happened. This is my house, if you recall. I don't want someone in it who has no right to be," he said shortly before continuing down the hallway.  
  
Tea ran after him.  
  
"Can I come with you?" she asked nervously.  
  
"I can help you as well," Came a misty voice from behind them.  
  
Seto and Tea whirled around to see Ishizu walking after them, the three only visible by the light coming in through the window in the hallway.  
  
Seto sighed.  
  
  
  
"All right," he agreed reluctantly, turning around. "Don't go wandering away and be quiet." He instructed as the three made their way downstairs.  
  
"What do you think that crash was?" Tea asked in a whisper as they reached the downstairs floor.  
  
"Quiet," Seto hissed, looking around.  
  
He flicked on a light in the den and examined the room. Nothing was wrong, or out of place. Everything was just as he had left it before he had gone upstairs for bed.  
  
After searching the whole of the downstairs, the three walked silently to the second floor and looked around.  
  
"Come this way," Ishizu said suddenly, walking down the hallway toward the library.  
  
The door was ajar and a strange purple light was illuminating it, reflecting off the door. Seto hurried after her, Tea right behind him, and he swung the door all the way open.  
  
Tea gasped.  
  
Inside the room, hovering above a something black and smoking on the table, was the silvery outline of what appeared to be a purple rooster.  
  
Ishizu put her hand to her mouth in horror.  
  
"The Roman Mythology book!" she cried, stepping forward, while Tea and Seto stood wide-eyed in shock. "The book! It's destroyed!"  
  
Seto closed his eyes and shook his head, clearing his thoughts.  
  
"What are you?" he demanded from the rooster, walking forward.  
  
"No, Seto, don't!" Ishizu cried, but it was too late.   
  
The rooster looked up, now aware of their presence, and it gave off three mighty electric shocks. Seto ducked, letting the shock hit the wall, Ishizu darted out of the way and Tea scrambled behind a bookcase.  
  
"What is it doing?!" Seto hissed at Ishizu.  
  
"It destroyed the book…" Ishizu began, whispering out from under the table she was hiding by.  
  
"I could care less about that ridiculous book! What is it doing in here and what is IT for that matter?!" Seto snapped, cutting her off.  
  
"We must stop it!" Ishizu whispered back.  
  
"How?" Tea asked, looking at it as it gave off another shock, splitting a small table in half.  
  
"If only I had my Millennium Necklace," Ishizu muttered, looking around for another alternative.  
  
The rooster turned and faced it's blank face at Ishizu, staring hard at her, as if expecting her to go on.  
  
"…but I left it with my friend at the dump downtown when I was walking past," Ishizu continued loudly, her words receiving puzzled stares from both Seto and Tea.  
  
"Wha…" Tea started but Ishizu gave her a look that told her to stay quiet.  
  
The rooster flew out an open window and left without another word.  
  
"Why did it suddenly leave, and where did it go?" Tea asked, coming out timidly from behind the bookcase.  
  
Ishizu stood up.  
  
"It seems to want to destroy us, for some reason, and that's why it destroyed the book. It knew that and the only people that can destroy it are Millennium Item holders," she explained. "He went off to destroy my imaginary friend at the dump. We're safe for now."  
  
"What is IT?!" Seto repeated anxiously.  
  
"It, is some form of evil and powerful spirit," Ishizu said simply as Seto turned on a light. "I think it must just want to destroy us, all of Yugi's and Bakura's friends for some reason."  
  
"That isn't helpful. How do we destroy it?" Seto asked, narrowing his eyes.  
  
Ishizu sighed.  
  
"I was reading that book to discover a way, but it only told me, in different wording, what I already knew; that the rooster is a symbol of courage and the chicken was sacred to Mars," she replied.  
  
"Then maybe defeating it has something to do with courage!" Tea said, trying to be helpful. She felt a bit out of place; after all, it was Seto's house that was being attacked, and Ishizu had all the information, but she seemed to be only a bystander.  
  
"Maybe," Seto replied, suppressing a yawn. "But for now, let's just get some rest and worry about this rooster nonsense in the morning."  
  
He walked toward the door, and shut off the light.  
  
"It's not nonsense, Seto," Ishizu said seriously, still standing, unmoving, in the dark room. "The rooster-spirit wants to kill us, and it will stop at nothing."  
  
Seto didn't reply, although he thought about Ishizu's words. He continued upstairs to check on Mokuba. Tea stared at Ishizu's blue and determined eyes, the moonlight glinting off them.   
  
"I hope the others are all right," she thought to herself, as she walked after Ishizu and back upstairs.  
  
Before going to his own room, Seto opened the door to Mokuba's room and peered inside. His little brother was curled up in bed, sound asleep. The covers had fallen to the floor.   
  
Seto walked across the room, silently as he could, and put the covers back on the bed and over Mokuba. As he adjusted them, Mokuba's eyes opened and he sleepily peered up at Seto.  
  
  
  
"Ni-sama?" he asked, his voice sleepy, as he rubbed his eyes. "What's wrong?"  
  
"Nothing," Seto replied, tucking his arm back under the covers. "Go back to sleep."  
  
"Oyasumi,(good night)" Mokuba said, shutting his eyes again, only vaguely aware of what was going on.  
  
"Oyasumi," Seto replied.  
  
*******  
  
Over at Duke's house, Joey and Tristan had fallen asleep while playing the video games, but the TV remained on, the cheery video game music still ringing throughout the house.  
  
Yugi and the others sleeping in the den had long since grown tired and fallen asleep despite the annoying game music, as had Mai, who had been sleeping on the couch near the TV.  
  
Amber and Serenity were sleeping in the guest bed happily. Both of them had fallen asleep long ago, as they were able to share the quilt, unlike other people they had met.  
  
Duke was still awake, though extremely tired. His arms ached, and he was tired of looking for a comfortable position to sleep in.  
  
"Itai, (ache/hurt)" Duke muttered, as he rolled over to get up. "This is ridiculous. I guess if I can't go to sleep, I'll go check my e-mail."  
  
He walked over to his desk, started up his laptop, and sat down on the chair. After it loaded in, and he had opened his internet service, he opened his mailbox.  
  
Inside were a few pieces of spam (junk) mail, which he promptly deleted, and a note from a user he didn't recognize.  
  
"What's this from?" he wondered, looking at the subject, "Chaos."  
  
Opening the letter, a huge text document appeared, all filled with the same word for lines and lines, "Chaos!"  
  
"What the…" Duke muttered, scrolling down past the chaos parts and down to the real letter.  
  
'Friend of owner;  
  
Beware. Chaos is coming your way! There is nothing you can do to stop me, or my destruction weapon. I am far away, and you will not find me, but my minion will find you. You and the other friends of the owner…  
  
MC'  
  
Duke's eyes widened at the note.  
  
  
  
"Chaos?" he asked himself, wondering what the letter meant. "I'm a friend of the owner….this must be talking about the chicken statue!" he realized, then frowned.  
  
"I was attacked by that dog today, did that have something to do with it?" he asked himself, then looked at the screen again. "And I'm not the only friend of the owner! We're all in danger!"  
  
*******  
  
End of Chapter 8  
  
Please leave a review, and come back tomorrow for the next chapter!  
  
"Thank you for reading!" 


	9. Chapter 9: Reawakening

Chapter 9: Reawakening  
  
NOTE: An old character will make a reappearance in this chapter, but it's only too obvious, so I will say no more.  
  
"Maybe that's what YOU will say, but I say…" -Red  
  
Nothing! You will say nothing! She's just in a cheery mood because we watched Yugi vs. Pegasus today and she got to see herself on TV.  
  
"*grin* That's right! The ORIGINAL me!"  
  
Yes, but no one else is interested in that. Let's get on with the story! Oh, and by the way, I'm calling the rooster-spirit just "the spirit" for now, as it sounds MUCH more scary than, the chicken. :-P  
  
******  
  
Chapter 9: Reawakening  
  
The next morning, Tea awoke feeling tired and drowsy, but forced herself out of bed, noticing the sun was up, and not wanting to spend more time than necessary over at Seto's house. She washed her face in the bathroom, then walked out into the silent hallway.  
  
No one else appeared to be awake.   
  
Shivering slightly at the silence, she walked down the hallway, past a few of the rooms Ishizu and Lishito had been using, and walked quietly downstairs, although she didn't mind in the slightest if someone woke up. It was eerie being in the Kaiba Mansion all alone, at least in a sense.  
  
Downstairs, she walked into the den and sat down on a chair, unsure of what she should be doing. A computer was sitting on a desk beside the chair, the screen lit up, indicating it was turned on.  
  
After a few minutes of sitting on the chair, simply staring at the clock as the little hand moved from 7:15 to 7:23, Tea finally got up and looked at the screen. On it was displayed an internet service, waiting to be sighed on.  
  
"Hmmm," Tea thought wonderingly, sitting down at the desk chair. "I wonder if it can check guest accounts…"  
  
  
  
She clicked "guest" for the user, and when prompted, she entered her own e-mail address and password, opening her own account.  
  
"Yes!" she thought triumphantly, although she wasn't sure if Seto would mind or not, she being on his computer, she decided it would be all right to just check her e-mail.  
  
She skimmed through a few dance newsletters from groups she had signed up to, and the came upon a letter identical to the one Duke had received the previous evening.  
  
"Chaos?" she said curiously, opening the letter. "Well, there was no attachments, so it can't be a virus or anything…"  
  
The message displayed itself on the screen, showing 5 or 6 lines of the word "chaos" and the note at the bottom.  
  
"Oh my!" Tea gasped, backing away from the computer.  
  
"What's wrong now?"   
  
Tea knocked the chair over as she turned quickly to see who was awake. It was Seto again, standing in the doorway, already dressed in black with a purple jacket.  
  
Tea felt stupid.  
  
"How many times will I make myself look like an idiot?" she wondered as she picked up the chair.  
  
"Nothing's really wrong, except I got this letter when I was checking my e-mail, and it looks like it's related to the chicken somehow," Tea explained, stepping away from the computer so that Seto could read the letter.  
  
He walked over to the computer.  
  
"We have to start off the morning with that chicken, don't we?" he said grumpily, glancing at the letter. "This is odd…"  
  
"It's almost like a riddle," Tea said, sitting back down on the chair near the computer.  
  
"What's a riddle?" Lishito yawned, walking in the room, his hair standing up slightly.  
  
"Nothing…just an odd letter," Seto replied, absorbed in the letter.  
  
Lishito cocked his head.  
  
"An odd letter? On the computer you mean?" he asked, walking over to get a good view.  
  
"Yes," Seto replied, pulling the computer chair up and sitting down in front of it. "There's plenty of cereals in the kitchen if you want breakfast," he added to Lishito and Tea.  
  
"Okay!" Lishito said, glancing at the letter. "That's an odd message. "Chaos" I wonder who sent it."  
  
  
  
"Obviously TiqueFreak88 did," Tea replied, remembering the e-mail address.  
  
"I wonder who that is…" Lishito pondered out loud as he and Tea left Seto for the kitchen.  
  
"This person," Seto muttered aloud. "This person must have some relation to the chicken. If the original owner was Bakura, and we are considered "friends of the owner,"  
  
He paused.  
  
"That means, that this person must have had something to do with how the chicken got INTO Bakura's possession," Seto concluded. His eyes opened wide.  
  
After making a few quick searches, he found the name he was looking for.   
  
"Madam Christina threw that tournament on the island," he remembered, staring at the chaos letter again. "MC!"  
  
He looked at the address.  
  
"And TiqueFreak88 must stand for ANTIQUE Freak, as the woman was quite obsessed with antiques," he remembered. "But…" He thought about it logically for a moment. "Can that eccentric old woman really be the one behind the chicken's destructive behavior?"  
  
He folded his hands and stared into the screen of the computer, contemplating…  
  
*******  
  
"Fool….Fool…." The now harsh, misty voice went through the spirit's mind as it's master called out to it. "You believe the lies of a foolish woman?"  
  
The spirit hung in midair, in the middle of the sidewalk. A young boy walking by spotted it, stood still for a moment, watching it, and then turned and hurried away with a small cry.  
  
"I command you one last time," The woman said angrily. "If you fail again, you will be destroyed."  
  
The spirit gave a nod, and flew down the pavement.  
  
*******  
  
Over at Duke's house, Duke was sleeping on his laptop computer, the screen displaying a computer version of Dungeon Dice Monsters. The game was unfinished, as Duke had fallen asleep after the fifth move, and the opponent kept saying things like, "It's your move." or "Are you too chicken to continue?" every few minutes in an attempt to make the player move.  
  
Of course, Duke was fast asleep, so no attempt to wake him would work, at least no attempt made by a computer-programmed opponent.  
  
Yugi, Joey, Malik, Triston, Taerro, and Mai were still sound asleep, and Amber and Serenity were still sleeping in Amber's guest room, but Bakura was awake, staring at the Millennium Ring in his hands. Ever since he had put it on, he had been possessed off and on by the evil spirit that dwelled within, and it appeared that he had been possessed quite recently at the beach as well.  
  
The funny thing was, it had been Taerro who told him he had tripped and hit his head, but what if Taerro was still possessed too? What if Taerro and the evil spirit had been…working together against Yugi.  
  
  
  
Standing up and walking toward the door, Bakura hoped he would be back before Yugi or any of the others missed him. He opened it and walked outside into the fresh air and sunlight.  
  
"I guess I'll just take a quick walk," he muttered to himself, walking down the street.   
  
After a twenty minutes of thinking, Bakura became lost in his own world. He didn't notice the shadow in the distance, or the fact that it had spotted him and was now zooming toward him.  
  
He didn't see any of it until it was only a foot away.  
  
"No!" Bakura cried, backing up, but getting his shoe caught in a grate, and falling to the ground with a hard clank.  
  
The spirit approached him, looming over him, the purple electric substance surrounding it. Bakura was defenseless, with only the Millennium Ring, whose powers were unknown to him, around his neck to protect him.  
  
As the spirit prepared to attack him, Bakura squeezed his eyes shut.  
  
"Help me!" He pleaded, to no one in particular, with all his might. All his concentration.   
  
"HELP ME!"  
  
The Millennium Ring lit up suddenly, glowing brightly, even in the sunlight. Bakura's eyes opened, only they weren't Bakura's sweet and innocent eyes; they were narrow and evil looking. They could only belong to…  
  
"I'm back," Yami Bakura said evilly, standing up, his ring still glowing.   
  
The chicken let off a large electric shock, which Yami Bakura reflected back at it with his Millennium Ring. The spirit, startled, flew off, away to torment another "friend of the owner."  
  
Yami Bakura looked around. He was standing in the middle of the sidewalk, apparently back in Domino City. The last thing he remembered was falling under Yami Taerro's powers…then all was dark and misty…and trapped-feeling…  
  
"How was I brought back?" he wondered, thinking about a few seconds before.  
  
He had been in his dark prison, deep within the Millennium Ring, when something, or someone, called him…called him back out.  
  
He looked around again, seeing no one nearby. Who had called him out? There was only one answer, but…but Bakura would never call on him…not for anything.  
  
"Or would he?" Yami Bakura thought, starting off down the street, hoping to get somewhere familiar fast. "There are some things about that weakling you just never know…until the moment you least expect it…"  
  
******  
  
An hour later, Yugi woke up to find himself in the middle of Duke's den, sleeping on the floor beside Malik, Taerro, and an empty sleeping back.  
  
  
  
"Bakura?" Yugi cried, sitting up straight and getting out of his sleeping bag. "Bakura?!"  
  
Malik stirred and looked up at Yugi.  
  
  
  
"Yu…gi?" he asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes. "What's wrong with you?"  
  
  
  
"Where's Bakura?" Yugi asked, looking wildly around for his friend, remembering the spirit.  
  
"Bakura's missing?" Taerro asked, getting up and groping around for his glasses.   
  
Malik handed them to him and he put them on.  
  
"It seems so," Malik said, looking around. "Hey! Bakura? Are you here?" he called, his voice echoing through the silent room.  
  
  
  
The TV had long since put on a screen saver, as Joey and Triston hadn't been playing Video Games for over a few hours.  
  
Awoken by Yugi and Malik's calls, Duke sat up and looked at the computer screen.  
  
"Hey! It's your move!" The opponent said, waving a hand, but Duke, not in the mood for a game at the minute, closed it, revealing the internet server below it, and the terrifying message underneath.  
  
"Bakura?!" Yugi called from in the den. "Where are you?"  
  
"Bakura's…gone?!" Duke asked, shocked.  
  
*****  
  
End of Chapter Nine  
  
Chapter 10 will be up tomorrow so come back soon, but for now…PLEASE leave a review and tell me what you think! Thanks!!!  
  
"And hope you enjoyed the story so far." ;) 


	10. Chapter 10: Plots and Plans

Chapter 10: Plots and Plans  
  
Note: Yes, you can't keep a spirit like Yami Bakura down, though I think it's kind of ironic that Bakura would be the one to wake him up when he's the one who was happy without him. -Seto-Kaiba  
  
"Poor Bakura-kun" -Red Archery Girl  
  
Oh, and yes, Silver, Seto is smart! ^_^   
  
"*Rolls eyes* let's get on with the story!"  
  
Hold on, hold on. One more notice. When I wrote the title of this chapter, I didn't realize at first that Plots and Plans sounds a lot like Pots and Pans, like dishes.  
  
  
  
"*Starts laughing*"  
  
But kitchen cookery has NOTHING to do with this chapter. :-P  
  
*****  
  
Chapter 10: Plots and Plans  
  
"Yugi!" Duke cried, bursting open the door to his room and running out into the den.  
  
Yugi, Malik, and Taerro looked up, startled. Joey stirred from where he was hunched over near the TV, the video game controller still in his hand.  
  
"Whoa, backache big time," he moaned, getting up and rubbing his back, which was soar from spending the night in such a position. "Nice PJs Duke," he added, commenting on Duke's red and black plaid pajamas.  
  
"Very funny, Joey," Duke snapped, turning to Yugi and the others. "You say Bakura's missing?" he asked hurriedly.  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"He is," he replied, looking around. "When I woke up, he wasn't in his sleeping back, and it doesn't look like he's in the house anymore."  
  
Duke's eyes widened.  
  
"Oh no," he muttered, turning slowly toward the front door.  
  
"What is it, Duke?" Malik asked, walking forward.  
  
"Duke?" Yugi added after a moment's silence.  
  
Duke turned toward his friends.  
  
"Last night, I got this creepy e-mail from someone who signed the letter MC, but that's beside the point," he said to them. "Anyway, it said that we would never escape his, or her I guess, minion and that it would destroy its owner and his friends."  
  
"Bakura and us!" Joey cried, trying to walk over Tristan, tripping over him, and smashing into the carpet of the floor.  
  
"Uh…yeah," Malik replied, raising an eyebrow at Joey.  
  
"But the letter was referring to the chicken thing!" Duke exclaimed. "Whoever wrote that note knows about the chicken! I bet they're the ones behind it all!"  
  
Yugi rushed to the front door.  
  
  
  
"We've got to find Bakura!" he announced as he flung the door open and ran outside.  
  
Malik, Taerro and Duke followed, but as Duke tried to get to the door, Joey grabbed his arm, causing Duke to scream.  
  
"Watch the arm, would you please?" Duke asked, rubbing his arm tenderly. "What do you want?"  
  
"Sorry man," Joey replied. "But I don't think you want to run around in your pajamas, do you?" he told Duke, pointing down at the plaid Pjs Duke was wearing.  
  
Duke frowned and ran back to his room to get some real clothes on while Joey hurried after Yugi and the others.  
  
"Bakura!" Yugi called as he ran down the street. "Bakura!"  
  
"Where could he be, mo hitori no boku? (another me)" Yugi asked Yami, who had appeared spiritually beside him.  
  
"I don't know…" Yami muttered, looking around as Yugi ran. "But I'm starting to sense another dark presence…"  
  
"Bakura!" Yugi called again, beginning to worry. What if Bakura had been kidnapped by the spirit? Or worse, destroyed?  
  
He pushed the thought out of his mind as he and Malik ran down the street, Taerro behind them and Joey trailing a block behind.  
  
******  
  
Ishizu sat up in bed, and looked around. It had only been the previous evening that she'd seen the evil spirit in that very house, but now, she was sensing something even worse.  
  
Walking downstairs, she noticed Seto sitting at the computer, and could hear Tea and Lishito talking in the kitchen. She walked over to the computer where Seto was and leaned over to see what he was reading.  
  
"What are you doing, Seto?" she asked, startling him.  
  
"Ishizu!" he cried, turning around to look at her. "Oh, I think I've figured out who's behind this whole chicken mess."  
  
"Really?" Ishizu asked, intrigued. "Who?"  
  
"Well, I THINK it's a woman by the name Madam Christina," Seto informed her, closing the internet service.  
  
"Who is that?" Ishizu asked, the name unfamiliar to her.  
  
Seto stood up as the computer shut itself down.  
  
"She threw a tournament a while back on an island not far from here," Seto replied. "She was a bit eccentric and had an odd obsession with antiques, which were the prizes for the winners of her tournament."  
  
Ishizu nodded.  
  
"She purposely gave out the antique chicken knowing that it had an evil in it," Ishizu finished. "Now, it's out to destroy us. We must find her and stop her from letting other evils out as well."  
  
Seto sighed and crossed his arms.  
  
"What about the so-called "evil" that's running lose right now?" he asked. "How long is it going to wait at the dump thinking your Millennium Item is there? It's probably after Yugi and the others by now."  
  
Ishizu nodded.  
  
"Can we call them, and make sure they're all right?" Ishizu asked, looking at the phone sitting on the desk by the computer. "We have to tell them what we found out, as well."  
  
Seto shrugged.  
  
"Go ahead," he said, moving aside and walking into the kitchen.  
  
"Hey, Ni-sama!" Mokuba called, running down the stairs and seeing his brother at the bottom.  
  
"Good morning, Mokuba," He replied with a small smile as he and his brother walked toward the kitchen.  
  
"Can I ask you a question, Ni-sama?" Mokuba asked as they opened the door to the kitchen. "Was there something wrong last night, when you came into my bedroom?"  
  
Seto shook his head.  
  
"Nothing really…just checking up on you," Seto replied.  
  
"Ni-sama?" Mokuba asked, stepping in front of his brother. "Is something wrong?"  
  
Seto looked down into his brother's eyes.  
  
  
  
He sighed.  
  
"All right," Seto said finally. "Last night, the spirit of some chicken statue of Bakura's came in the house and attacked us."  
  
Mokuba looked shocked.  
  
  
  
"No one was hurt, of course, and I think I've found out who's behind it all," Seto added quickly.  
  
"Who is that?" Mokuba asked.  
  
"The woman who threw the tournament on that island a few weeks ago," Seto replied.  
  
"Madam Christina?" Mokuba gasped. "Are you sure? She seemed kinda weird, but harmless."  
  
Seto sighed.  
  
"I don't know for sure, but all the evidence so far points to her," he said to his brother. "I think we ought to consider giving her a call later on."  
  
Mokuba nodded.  
  
******  
  
*Ring! Ring! Ring*  
  
Amber covered her head with a pillow.  
  
"Come on Duke, answer the phone," she pleaded, unaware Duke had left five minutes before hand.  
  
After a few more rings, she reached out her hand and answered the phone.  
  
"Hello, Duke Devlin's house," she said in a groggy voice as she sat up.  
  
"This is Ishizu," Ishizu Ishtar's voice came through the speaker. "Is Yugi there?"  
  
Amber got up and walked out of the room, quietly, so not to wake Serenity.  
  
"Uh…" she mumbled, looking around and finding only Mai and Tristan left besides herself and Serneity. "It doesn't look like he's here, though I have no idea where he could have gone."  
  
Ishizu sighed.  
  
"See if you can't find them, and tell them to meet at Domino Station in an hour," Ishizu instructed. "This is very important. I think I may have found the way to defeat our feathered friend."  
  
Ishizu hung up, leaving Amber alone again.  
  
Amber blinked and hung up the phone as well. She yawned briefly, then got dressed and walked back out into the den.  
  
"ALL RIGHT EVERYONE! GET UP NOW!" she yelled, causing Tristan to jump up nearly three feet into the air and Mai to snap up on the couch.  
  
"What's the wake up call for?" she asked, stretching.  
  
  
  
"We've got to get dressed and find the others!" Amber instructed as Serenity walked out from inside the room. "And meet at Domino Station in one hour, okay?"  
  
Mai and Tristan sleepily nodded.  
  
"Okay!" Serenity said brightly.  
  
******  
  
End of Chapter 10   
  
Chapter 11 will either be up later today or early tomorrow. Thanks for reading and PLEASE leave a review.  
  
"Thanks!" 


	11. Chapter 11: New Allies, New Dangers

Chapter 11: New Allies, New Dangers  
  
Note: Sorry for the shortness of the last chapter. This one will be longer, and probably more interesting.  
  
"Yep!"  
  
And I don't believe Madam Christina knows about phone snakes, but I can't be too sure... ;)  
  
"Let's hope she doesn't!"  
  
On with the chapter!  
  
******  
  
Chapter 11: New Allies, New Dangers  
  
Yugi, Malik, and Joey ran down the street, looking everywhere for some sign of their friend.   
  
"Man, where could he be?" Joey asked, looking around the town square. "Bakura!"  
  
"What is it?" Came a soft voice suddenly, and the three whirled around to see Bakura standing there, his Millennium Ring half hidden behind his jacket, and his eyes wide and confused.  
  
"Bakura!" Yugi cried, running over to him.  
  
Joey followed, but Malik looked around instead. No one was behind them.  
  
"Where did that other boy go?" he wondered. "Taerro..."  
  
"What's wrong, Yugi?" Bakura asked, looking startled.  
  
"Why did you just leave Duke's house like that?" Joey demanded. "We've been all worried about you and looking everywhere! We thought you'd been attacked by that chicken spirit."  
  
"Well, I was," Bakura admitted. "But I..."  
  
Yugi narrowed his eyes.  
  
"You're not Bakura, are you?" he demanded suddenly, and Joey looked shocked.  
  
"What do you mean it's not Bakura? Of course it is!" Joey exclaimed, but Bakura backed away, his Millennium Ring glowing brightly.  
  
"No, you're right," he admitted with a frown. "I'm not Bakura."  
  
"But how did you come back?" Yugi demanded, walking forward.  
  
"Bakura summoned me," Yami Bakura said, truthfully.  
  
"That's a lie," Yugi cried. "Bakura wouldn't summon you."  
  
The Millennium Puzzle began to glow and Yami Yugi appeared in place of Yugi. Joey stepped backwards until he was standing beside Malik.   
  
"Hey man," he asked, whispering in Malik's ear. "Do you have any idea of what's going on?"  
  
Malik shrugged.  
  
"It appears that the evil spirit of the Millennium Ring has taken over Bakura again," he guessed.  
  
"Oh boy," Joey sighed, putting his head in his hands. "Why is it always some sort of evil spirit?"  
  
Malik shrugged again.  
  
"What do you want here?" Yami demanded, cornering Yami Bakura against the wall of the Domino Station building.  
  
"I told you, Bakura summoned me out. I had been defeated by the black-haired boy back at the ocean," Yami Bakura snapped, unsure of why he was bothering to tell Yugi this.  
  
"Taerro?" Yami gasped. "Does that mean that he is still possessed as well?"  
  
Yami Bakura sighed.  
  
"I released the evil spirit back at the dueling party a few weeks ago," he admitted. "But that was a mistake, as he's now betrayed me and doing what he pleases. We had a face off back at the beach and I lost."  
  
"Taerro is possessed?" Malik cried, stepping forward. "But then, where is he?"  
  
Yami looked around. Taerro was nowhere in sight.  
  
"We have to find him," Yami announced, when Duke ran into sight, panting hard.  
  
"Hey...guys...you...found Bakura?" he choked out, in between large gasps of air.  
  
"Yeah, we did, except he's possessed again by a no-good evil spirit," Joey said, glaring at Yami Bakura.  
  
Yami paused.  
  
"I'm not interested in you fools at the moment," Yami Bakura hissed, Millennium Ring glowing more brightly than ever. "I want to destroy that evil spirit for what he did to me."  
  
"Oh, and THEN you'll get rid of us, right?" Joey asked, looking suspiciously at Yami Bakura.  
  
"Wait a minute Joey," Yami said, pushing Joey aside so he could face Yami Bakura. "We might give him a chance."  
  
"A chance?!" Joey cried.  
  
  
  
"A change?" Yami Bakura snapped.  
  
"Yes, a chance. You want to defeat Yami Taerro, correct?" Yami repeated.  
  
Yami Bakura raised an eyebrow.  
  
"And we'll agree to help you with that if you do something for us first," Yami finished.  
  
"What?" Yami Bakura snapped.  
  
"Help us defeat the chicken-spirit and whoever is commanding it."  
  
"Why should I?" Yami Bakura replied, not bothering to be polite.  
  
"Because you will get the revenge you want, and destroy another power that could override yours," Yami said, pointing out all the up-sides to Yami Bakura's accepting.  
  
Yami Bakura paused for a moment and thought about the offer.  
  
"Yug, you can't be serious!" Joey hissed into his ear. "He won't help us! He'll turn against us the second something changes! We can't trust..."  
  
"Just a minute, Joey," Malik whispered. "I've worked with him before..."  
  
"...when you both were insane maniacs!" Joey put in.  
  
"...and he seemed to keep his word. What he's after is power, and to destroy power that he feels threatens his own. He's that type of person," Malik said. "I think this is a good idea."  
  
"It could get things finished easier and faster. It's like we're getting two jobs done at one," Duke added.  
  
"But what about AFTER this whole thing is over?" Joey hissed.  
  
Yami smiled a small smile.  
  
"We'll worry about that when the time comes," Yami replied as Yami Bakura looked up at them.  
  
"All right," Yami Bakura said. "I agree to help you defeat this evil spirit and it's commander, and you help me destroy the evil spirit within that Taerro boy?"  
  
"As long as no harm befalls Taerro himself," Yami replied. "Then yes."  
  
Yami Bakura paused for a moment. A bird chirped up in a tree above them and a few people rushed by on there way to the office.  
  
"Agreed," he said simply, crossing his arms. "What do I have to do?"  
  
"First, you can help us track down this evil with your Millennium Ring," Yami said, stepping out of his way.  
  
"Fine," Yami Bakura snapped, slightly soar about having to take orders from one of his main enemies.  
  
  
  
"Find the chicken-spirit," he hissed.  
  
He held out the glowing ring, and two of the pointers pointed forward.   
  
"Let's go," he snapped at the others and they all ran after Yami Bakura.  
  
"You know Yug," Joey panted as they ran. "This is turning out to be a pretty weird day."  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"It has," he agreed.  
  
*******  
  
Ishizu, Tea, and Lishito were heading for the door of the Kaiba Mansion a few minutes after they had eaten breakfast.  
  
"Would you like to come with us, Seto?" Ishizu asked as he opened the front door for them. "I believe I have a way to overcome this spirit."  
  
"No thank you," Seto replied coldly as they walked outside. "I have someone to talk to."  
  
  
  
Ishizu realized what he was talking about.  
  
  
  
"Be careful," she advised before the three set off.  
  
"Are you going to call that Christina lady, Ni-sama?" Mokuba asked, looking up at his older brother as he watched Ishizu, Lishito, and Tea walk away.  
  
Seto nodded.  
  
"Yes, I am."  
  
******  
  
Amber, Serenity, Tristan, and Mai trooped down the streets, searching for their friends.  
  
"Duke!" Amber called, cupping her hands around her mouth to magnify her voice as they walked past Domino Station. "Duke!!"  
  
"ONICHAN?!" Serenity called, worriedly.  
  
"Eh...Yugi!" Tristan called.  
  
"Anybody?" Mai called, looking around at the empty square.  
  
  
  
"Hello," Came Ishizu's misty voice from behind them, and they all turned to see Lishito, her, and Tea walking up.  
  
"Tea!" Serenity called, waving.  
  
"Have you found the others yet?" Ishizu asked, looking slightly worried as she looked around.  
  
"No, no we haven't," Mai said stifling a yawn. "Why the big hurry?"  
  
"Because I've sensed another evil presence awake this morning," Ishizu said. "And I'm afraid all that everything seems to be connect in one way or another."  
  
Amber opened her eyes wide.  
  
"Well, let's find the others first!" Amber declared, running ahead of the others.  
  
Lishito nodded.  
  
*******  
  
Ring. Ring. Ring.  
  
"Hellooo?" Came a calm voice from the other line as Seto Kaiba sat at his desk in his room.  
  
"Yes, I would like to speak with Madam Christina," he said coolly.  
  
"You're speaking to her," Madam Christina said with a giggle as Seto played with a pen on his desk.  
  
"Yes, well then, could you tell me your e-mail address? I have a new newsletter that is released monthly and I overheard you were interested in antiques," he said.  
  
"Do you sell them?" Madam Christina asked.  
  
"Yes, I do," Seto replied.   
  
He inwardly grinned as he opened up a notebook on the desk. If Madam Christina was really obsessed with antiques, this would be the perfect way to get her to blow her cover by giving away her e-mail address.  
  
"Well then, my work address is ChristinaWillard@aol.com" Madam Christina replied with a giggle.  
  
Seto scowled.  
  
"Thank you," he replied and hung up.  
  
He drew a line on a blank sheet of notebook paper. There was no way to accuse someone over the telephone. There was only one way...and that was to pay Madam Christina a REAL visit...  
  
******  
  
End of Chapter 11  
  
  
  
So, what did you think?  
  
"Exciting!"  
  
And the next chapter coming soon! I'm in a real "Writer's mood" today so it might be up later this afternoon!  
  
  
  
PLEASE review! Arigato! 


	12. Chapter 12: Courage

Chapter 12: Courage  
  
Seto looked out the window of his helicopter as it flew over the sparkling ocean. Mokuba was sitting next to him, playing on a Game Boy. Seto crossed his arms as he thought. He was going to talk to Madam Christina; to ask exactly what, if anything, she had to do with these strange occurrences.  
  
* "But Ni-sama, what if she has magic powers too, and she uses them against us?" Mokuba had asked.  
  
"I believe it's just a trick, Mokuba," Seto replied. "She can't possibly have magical powers. Besides which, she may have nothing to do with this at all."  
  
A few minutes later, he and Mokuba got on the helicopter and set off for her island. By boat, it would take hours, but by helicopter, it would only take 45 minutes to get to the island on which she had held her tournament.  
  
  
  
The helicopter was air-conditioned, and it felt almost cold, despite the fact it was mid-June. Seto thought about what Ishizu had said…  
  
* "Be careful."*  
  
What was there to be careful about? Seto sighed and leaned over to talk to the person flying.  
  
"How much longer, do you think it'll be before we get there?" he asked, Mokuba looking up from his game.  
  
"Around 5 minutes," The pilot replied.  
  
"All right," Seto replied, sitting back again.  
  
"Ni-sama? Can I come in with you when you talk to this lady?" Mokuba asked, looking expectantly over at his older brother.  
  
Seto gave a small smile.  
  
"How about you wait here?" he asked, hoping Mokuba wouldn't mind too much. Even if Madam Christina didn't have powers, this could still be dangerous. Besides which, he only wanted to ask her a few questions. He didn't need to drag Mokuba along to do that.  
  
Mokuba's face fell.  
  
  
  
"Oh," he sighed." Okay…I guess."  
  
He looked up at his brother with pleading eyes.  
  
"But Ni-sama?" he asked. "Please be careful."  
  
Seto gave a small laugh.  
  
"Of course," he said as the helicopter landed down on the dock where the boats that had taken them to the island had left them. "Now, I'll be back in a few minutes."  
  
Mokuba nodded as Seto opened the door and walked up the street, looking for the address that he had found on the invitation to the tournament.  
  
"Well, now I can find out if she's really behind all these tricks," Seto thought as he passed by two houses that had been used as cabins for the tournament participants during the tournament. "And put an end to all this nonsense."  
  
*******  
  
"Duke! Yugi? Joey!?" Amber called as she and the others ran down the streets. "Where are you guys?"  
  
Ishizu stopped and closed her eyes.  
  
"What's wrong?" Tea asked, halting next to her.  
  
Ishizu shook her head.  
  
"I'm just sensing something…danger…" she replied mistily. She opened her eyes.  
  
"Well, then, let's find Onichan and the others fast!" Serenity said worriedly.  
  
Ishizu nodded and the others ran ahead, but she walked slowly behind them.  
  
"The chicken-spirit is not the only danger I'm sensing," she whispered to herself.  
  
*******  
  
Yami Bakura led the way of yet another wild team consisting of Yugi, Duke, Joey, Malik, and himself, as he continued to hold out his Millennium Ring and follow the pointers.  
  
"So after we find this ridiculous chicken, and I aid you in the destroying of it, then you will assist me in the destruction of the evil in that boy?" Yami Bakura restated as they ran.  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"That's right!" he replied as they crossed the street, narrowly missing a black car as it zoomed around the corner.  
  
"Hey look," Joey called, skidding to a halt in front of a hotdog stand that was set up on the side of the path. "Breakfast!"  
  
He licked his lips as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a few paper bills to buy a "dog" with.  
  
Duke grabbed Joey's arm and tugged him along with him.  
  
"There's no time for that now, Joey!" he hissed as Joey sadly stared back at the stand as Duke pulled him along. "Besides, we don't want to make Yami Bakura angry."  
  
  
  
"I still say it was a bad idea to work with that psycho m…" Joey started but Duke clapped his hand over his mouth.  
  
"Jo-ey!" Duke hissed. "Don't make him mad!"  
  
"What was that?" Yami Bakura snapped, looking behind him.  
  
Joey sweat dropped and raised his hands up in defense.  
  
"Uh…nothing! I was talking about Taerro, that's all," he said embarrassedly.  
  
"I'm no idiot," Yami Bakura snarled, a little girl who had been walking along now giving a little gasp and running in the opposite direction. "But watch what you say. I have many powers that could persuade you otherwise to keep your mouth shut."  
  
Joey nodded, scared stiff. Yami Bakura grinned at Joey's fright.  
  
"If there's one thing I love," he said with an evil grin as he turned back to his Millennium Ring. "It's a frightened human. Let's go." he said, continuing to run.  
  
The others followed.  
  
"Certainly friendly, isn't he?" Joey hissed at Malik.  
  
Malik shrugged.  
  
"No, but at least he's not attacking you," he whispered back.  
  
******  
  
Seto walked up to the address that he had scribbled on the sheet of notebook paper only hours ago back home. It was a large house, colored dark gray. No lights were shining in any of the windows, and there was no car in the driveway. (although, who would really have use for a car on an island. A boat would be more useful)  
  
He walked up the path that was paved through a neatly mowed lawn that had been heavily decorated with antiques and lawn ornaments. The mass decoration did not surprise him as he walked up the stairs and rang the bell. A few minutes passed before the door opened, and a maid dressed in black and white opened the door, brushing her hands off on her apron.  
  
"May I help you, sir?" she asked kindly, studying Seto closely.  
  
"Yes, I'd like to pay Madam Christina a visit," Seto said, looking professional.  
  
"Do you have an appointment with her?" The maid asked.  
  
"No," Seto replied, narrowing his eyes.  
  
"Well, I'll go ask her if she's busy. Please…um… just step into the den," The maid said uncertainly, showing him into a large and old-fashioned-looking room.  
  
"I'll be back in a few minutes," The lady instructed, and her high heels click-clacked against the wooden floors as she walked away.  
  
Seto looked around. The room was filled with, to no surprise, antiques. Old statues of anything from alligators to shoes, to old flower pots whose silver coating was beginning to ship. The couches were all red; deep crimson.   
  
Seto crossed his arms and waited.  
  
******  
  
"Yugi!" Tea cried, waving her hand as she spotted Yugi running along with his gang.  
  
"DUKE? WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?" Amber shouted as she and Tea ran across the street to join the others, Ishizu and Lishito right behind them, and last but not least, Serenity.  
  
Duke turned around.  
  
"Oh, uh…hi Amber!" he said cheerfully, waving.  
  
"What have you been doing?!" Amber demanded. "I woke up this morning and you weren't there."  
  
"And neither were you, onichan," Serenity added, walking up to her brother.  
  
Joey put his hand behind his neck.  
  
"Ehe…sorry Serenity, but we were looking for Bakura, and found him and now we're looking for that crazy chicken-spirit," Joey explained.  
  
"I don't think we have need to look far," Lishito said, pointing behind them.  
  
Everyone whirled around and saw the spirit, electric and purple as always, floating in the air.  
  
"Ha, so this is the infamous chicken?" Yami Bakura snapped with a grin, holding out his ring. "Ring! Destroy it!"  
  
  
  
A blue blast shot out from the Millennium Ring, but it didn't even hit the chicken.  
  
  
  
"What?!" he demanded as the chicken prepared to strike.  
  
"The chicken is the symbol of courage!" Ishizu cried, stepping backwards, pulling Serenity and Malik with her.  
  
"Nesan, not so hard!" Malik whispered as his collar pressed into his neck.  
  
"You must believe in yourself in order to destroy it!" Ishizu called.  
  
"Believe in myself?" Yami thought, appearing.   
  
Then he narrowed his eyes.  
  
"Did you hear her, Bakura?" he snapped at Yami Bakura.  
  
"I think I might have caught some of it," Yami Bakura snarled back.  
  
"Well, then listen, and follow her orders!" Yami commanded.  
  
"Attack!" Yami and Yami Bakura cried, closing their eyes as their Millennium Items shot out at the chicken-spirit.  
  
"It'll destroy it," Yami thought to himself.  
  
"Yes, it will," Yugi added, standing beside his partner in spirit form.  
  
"This…will destroy that over-sized bird," Yami Bakura thought, nearly laughing to himself as he thought this.  
  
There was a deafening explosion, and Yami could feel a warm wave wash over them. He opened his eyes a crack and saw the spirit had disappeared.  
  
For a moment, everyone was silent. Tea was the first to speak. She ran over to Yugi, who had taken over the body once more and gave him a small hug.  
  
"You did it!" she cried, looking up at his with her shining eyes.  
  
"Yeah," Yugi agreed, then corrected himself. "Actually, WE did it." he added, looking over at Yami Bakura.  
  
Yami Bakura crossed his arms and looked away.  
  
"Just uphold your end of the bargain," he snapped.  
  
Yugi shrugged.  
  
"Oh well, I guess we'll have to find Taerro now and de-evil spirit hi…" Yugi started, but was cut off by Ishizu's gasp.  
  
"What's wrong?" Amber asked concerned.  
  
"It's…Seto," she said in a whisper. "He's in trouble…with another evil."  
  
******  
  
End of Chapter 12  
  
Please review, and come back tomorrow for chapter 13!! 


	13. Chapter 13: The Darker Power

Chapter 13: The Darker Power  
  
Everyone crowded around Ishizu.  
  
"How can you be sure, Nesan?" Malik asked, looking up at his older sister curiously. "I mean, you don't have your Millennium Necklace anymore..."  
  
Ishizu shook her head.  
  
"I still sense things," she said quietly. "Like the evil force we just encountered. And I can sense something bad happening to him...with another evil."  
  
"The evil spirit in Taerro, right?" Joey asked, jumping up and down.  
  
But Ishizu simply shook her head no. Joey stopped jumping and looked at her. So did everyone else.  
  
"What do you mean it's not he?" Yugi inquired.   
  
"It's not that evil, but another..." Ishizu began but was cut off but a loud huff from Yami Bakura.  
  
"I THOUGHT you said all we had to do was kill this chicken, and then we would kill that evil spirit in that boy!" he shouted. "Now you're saying there's ANOTHER evil out there needing to be defeated?!"  
  
Ishizu looked at Yami Bakura with her piercing blue eyes.  
  
"Yes," she said simply. "This evil woman is the source of the ancient spirit within the chicken, and I suspect that Seto went to go confront her."  
  
"Who is this woman?" Yugi asked desperately.  
  
"Yes, who?" Duke asked.  
  
Ishizu sighed.  
  
"He said her name was...Madam Christina," Ishizu said, and everyone, with the exception of Malik, Lishito, and Yami Bakura, who were not "acquainted" with Madam Christina, gasped.  
  
"No! It couldn't be that woman who ran the tournament a while ago!" Amber gasped, looking a Duke, wide-eyed.  
  
"That seems almost impossible," Yugi agreed.  
  
Duke and Tristan nodded, remembering how...odd...but harmless she'd seemed.  
  
"Was Kaiba sure about this?" Joey inquired suspiciously.  
  
"HEY!" Came a loud and angry voice from behind them and huffing and puffing, Mai came into view.  
  
"Next time!" she huffed, running up to them. "Don't leave me...at a...stop light...when the light...is red!" she yelled at Amber and Serenity.  
  
She pushed her sweaty hair out of her face and straightened her skirt.  
  
"I thought we were missing someone," Amber said embarrassedly scratching her cheek.  
  
"We have no time to waste," Ishizu said, more desperately this time. "We have to get to her place."  
  
"But she lives on an island that takes nearly half a day to get there!" Duke protested.  
  
Yugi gasped.  
  
"That's right! And we don't have half a day to waste!" he cried, starting to sweat a little.  
  
  
  
"We've got a boat," Malik said with uncertainty, trying to be of help.  
  
Ishizu and Lishito nodded.  
  
"But it will still take..." Mai started, but was cut off by an impatient hiss from Bakura.  
  
"What's wrong with you?" Mai asked, looking startled.  
  
"You foolish humans, you think so small," Yami Bakura hissed, walking over toward Malik. "Where the heck is this boat of yours, Malik?" he demanded so forcefully that Malik cringed.  
  
"Um...at Domino's Dock," Malik replied nervously.  
  
Yami Bakura started off down the path.  
  
"Let's go then! The sooner this woman is defeated, the sooner I can get my revenge!" he said loudly, and lead the group down sidewalks and to Domino's Dock.  
  
******  
  
Meanwhile, Seto was glancing around the room again. There were two large balls, one on either side of the room. Each one was shiny and greenish blue. They twinkled in the little light that was coming in through the windows.  
  
He sighed and narrowed his eyes.  
  
******  
  
"Madam Christina?" The maid asked, tapping lightly on the slightly ajar door. "There is a young man here to see you."  
  
"I already know that," Madam Christina replied airily from where she was sitting, behind an oak desk covered in magazines of ancient ruins and antique collector conventions.  
  
  
  
Madam Christina's office was sea green in color, and contained several red-oak bookshelves filled with antique collector guides and books on mythology. Designs were carved on the shelves and the mini-table in the middle of the room, making the office look quite old-fashioned.  
  
  
  
"You...you do?" The maid asked, stepping backwards a bit, her blue eyes shining.  
  
  
  
Madam Christina laughed and turned toward the window that was behind her desk.  
  
"Yes, I know he's there. He's waiting in the sitting room. I will see to him in a minute," she laughed. "That will be all. Go back to your cooking or whatever it is you do around here."  
  
  
  
"Y...yes ma'am," The maid replied and dashed back to the kitchen, leaving the door open.  
  
"So..." Madam Christina muttered, looking out at the afternoon sun. "So the spirit failed, and now I have a visitor."  
  
A grin spread over her face.  
  
"I suppose it's time to have a little fun with my...guest," she chuckled, and touched a purple ball that was half concealed in the arm of the chair.   
  
It glowed a bright white light at her touch and she closed her eyes.  
  
"Activate," she thought.  
  
******  
  
The two green balls in the room with Seto suddenly began to glow the same color white as the purple ball had back in Madam Christina's office. They spun around wildly and Seto stepped backwards.  
  
"Lock..." Came a misty voice, and the sitting room door slammed shut.  
  
"What is going on?" Seto wondered as the orbs continued to spin round and round.   
  
Then, they stopped. Each on turned a few notches and let loose a terrible green blast, aimed right for Seto. He ducked, and let the blasts destroy the couch behind him, but the blasts kept on coming.  
  
"This is ridiculous," Seto thought as he dodged the blasts, looking for a way to destroy the balls. "I wonder..."  
  
He picked up an antique baseball and tossed it at the orb on the left side. It merely clicked off the side of the orb and both orbs continued to fire.   
  
"Drat," he thought, ducking behind the blasted couch to think for a minute.  
  
Suddenly, an idea came into his mind.  
  
  
  
"Why not get in between them and have both of them go off at the same time," he thought, running forward. "Then, they can destroy each other...hopefully."  
  
He stood in front of the orbs for a second, and both turned toward him and let off large white blasts. He ducked underneath them and the blast from the right shattered the one on the left.   
  
Seto covered his head with his hands to avoid being cut by the shattering glass of the orbs.  
  
"It worked almost too perfectly," Seto thought, looking up after the aftershocks of the explosion had worn off.  
  
Suddenly, another blast was let off from the right orb and hit him. Shocked by the blast, he stood in the same position for a second before falling to the floor in a crumpled heap.  
  
  
  
"Deactivate." The misty voice whispered and the right-sided orb went back to green and normal again.  
  
******  
  
Meanwhile, Yugi, all his friends, Yami Bakura, and the Ishtars had boarded the tiny Ishtar boat. Tea, Mai, Serenity, and Triston were trying to fit into the kitchen at the same time, while Lishito was going to steer the boat downstairs.  
  
Malik, Ishizu, Yami Bakura, and Yugi were up on the deck, and Joey, Duke, Mai, and Amber were down in the den of the boat.  
  
"So how do you propose we get to that island without spending all night on the ocean?" Malik asked curiously.  
  
"Malik, for being a previous Millennium Item owner, you sure think pretty simple-mindedly," Yami Bakura sneered, his Millennium Ring glowing.  
  
"What's that?" Yugi cried, watching as the 5 pointers of the Millennium Ring pointed forward and a huge black and white speckled vortex-like creation appeared in front of the boat.  
  
Yami Bakura grinned.  
  
"It's called a Shadow Portal," Yami Bakura explained as the boat started moving toward it.  
  
Inside the room, the electricity flickered and grew dim from the interference as the boat grew closer.  
  
"Are you sure about this, Bakura?" Yugi cried, holding on to the railing as wind blew by forcefully.  
  
"Have you ever done this before?" Malik called over the howling of the wind as they prepared to enter the black atmospheric portal.  
  
"Well...no, but it ought to work," Yami Bakura said calmly.  
  
Yugi's eyes widened as they entered the black portal...  
  
  
  
******  
  
End of Chapter 13  
  
Thanks for reading, and please leave a review! Next chapter up probably tomorrow or Saturday.  
  
"Thanks for reviewing guys!" 


	14. Chapter 14: Conflict

Chapter 14: Conflict  
  
Note: "Poor Seto"  
  
Yes, yes. Poor Seto. And I'd be pretty scared if I were going into an unknown black vortex too. '_'  
  
Also, thanks for the reviews guys! ^_^ I'm glad you like it so far. Let me see here...Yami Bakura hasn't gotten much of a chance to use shadow portals, as he likes to bide his time and plot out his moves for one thing, and then he's been wrapped up in trying to get rid of Yami Taerro since the last story.  
  
"He'll probably use them quite often if he ever gets a chance to..."  
  
Anyway, I guess that's all for notes.  
  
"On with Chapter 14!"  
  
*******  
  
Chapter 14: Conflict  
  
Mokuba, from where he was waiting on the dock, heard a large explosion.  
  
"What was that?!" he cried, looking around wildly.  
  
"I'm sure it was nothing to worry about sir," The pilot of the helicopter said soothingly, taking a sip out of a water bottle. "I think fire-works are permitted on this island. I'm sure it was just a local having some fun."  
  
Mokuba tensely looked back in the direction his brother had walked off in.  
  
"Ni-sama," he whispered. "Come back soon."  
  
*******  
  
"You've never done this before, Bakura?" Malik cried as they entered the vortex, everything around them spinning.  
  
"Nope," Yami Bakura replied calmly, despite the chaotic atmosphere around them.  
  
Ishizu's hair whipped around wildly as they blackness surrounded them and engulfed the entire boat.   
  
Underneath the boat, all of the passengers were rocking around in motion with the boat. Amber tripped over Tristan, who had bent over to pick up Tea's cell phone, and fell over into Joey.  
  
The lights went out at that moment and Joey, unaware Amber had fallen, simply dropped her instead of catching her. She slammed down onto the hard boat floor.  
  
"Ow!" she screeched.  
  
"Who fell?" Joey asked as the lights flickered back on.  
  
"I did!" Amber groaned picking herself up and rubbing her chest. "Because YOU didn't catch me." She added in an undertone.  
  
"Oh," Joey replied, turning to his sister as the boat shook horribly. "How the heck is Lishito driving out there? What's wrong?" he asked irritably, catching his sister from falling over.  
  
"Arrigato, onichan," she said with a smile as the book shook violently again.  
  
Tea and Amber walked over to the window and pulled the shade up. Tea gasped, and Amber blinked in disbelief.  
  
"What the..." Amber cried. "We're riding in the middle of a...black vortex or something."  
  
Duke and Tristan ran over to the window to see for themselves.  
  
"Whoa! I think someone ought to find out which route Lishito was taking!" Tristan cried.  
  
"I'll go check it out," Joey said bravely, walking up the stairs to the deck and into the whirling wind.  
  
"Where the...heck are we...?!!" he called over the roar of the wind to Malik, Yami Bakura, Yugi, and Ishizu, who were hanging on for dear life to the railing outside on the deck.  
  
"Shadow Portal, now shut up, you're ruining my fun," Yami Bakura snapped back, shouting over the wind, then turning back and enjoying the strong, tornado-like winds as if they were gentle spring winds.  
  
  
  
"Shadow-what?!" Joey cried, grabbing onto the railing and following it out to Yugi.  
  
"Shadow-PORTAL, now be quiet!" Yami Bakura snapped as a ray of light suddenly shown through the darkness a few feet in front of the boat.  
  
"We're almost there!" Yugi cried happily as he could begin to make out the dock of the island in front of them.  
  
"Good!" Malik called as the boat suddenly slapped down on top of the water, causing waves to splash up on the side of the boat, letting water seep into the windows below.  
  
"Ew!" Tea cried, as water drenched the front of her shirt.   
  
She wrung it out, letting the drops of water drip onto the floor. Lishito staggered into the room, looking quite shaken.  
  
  
  
"That was...quite an experience," he said truthfully, walking up to the deck, the others following.  
  
"I hope onichan is okay!" Serenity called, running up the stairs after Duke and Amber, holding onto the railing just in case.  
  
Up on the deck, everyone, aside from Yami Bakura and the ever-calm Ishizu, looked very shook up.   
  
Yugi walked over to the edge were the latter was descending to allow them off.  
  
"Onichan!" Serenity cried, giving him a hug as she reached the top. "That was horrible!"  
  
He patted her back comfortingly.  
  
"Yeah...but it's over, sis," he said to her as they walked over to the latter, where Ishizu, Malik, and Yami Bakura had already gotten off the boat and were waiting on the dock.  
  
"Let us hurry," Ishizu said, looking around.   
  
She could make out a little blade that looked as though it belonged to a helicopter on the other side of the island. She could see a road that lead up to several houses; large, rich-looking, summer houses, by the look of them.  
  
"So which one do you reckon is hers?" Joey asked as he stepped off the ladder, helping his sister down and looking around at the homes.  
  
  
  
"I guess we'll just have to try one," Yugi said, looking around.  
  
The gang made their way down the street and walked up to the first home they came upon. Duke and Tristan walked across the lawn while the others walked up the path and up to the door.  
  
Joey rung the bell and the gang waited at the door. Five minutes passed and no one came.  
  
"This is ridiculous," Joey said, looking at his watch. "We've been standing here for nearly 5 minutes! Is no one home or something?"  
  
"He-llo!?" Amber called, looking in the dusty window.  
  
Yami Bakura shoved Joey and Tristan aside and moved in front of the door, his Millennium Ring glowing brightly.  
  
"Stand aside," he hissed, as all 5 pointers on the ring stood up and blasted something green at the door.  
  
Smoke rose up from the door as it crashed down onto the floor inside the building. Yami Bakura swiftly walked across the door and into the room, leaving everyone behind him looking shocked.  
  
Noticing no one was following, he turned around.  
  
"What are you waiting for?" he snapped. "Aren't you coming?"  
  
Yugi walked forward.   
  
"Yeah, come on guys," he said to the others, and they walked inside the old fashioned house.  
  
  
  
"Hey, Bakura?" Joey asked as they walked quietly through the front hall. "Next time you plan on blowing down the door, let us know first, ok?"  
  
Yami Bakura laughed.  
  
"I actually think he should have tried the knob before blowing the hole thing down," Tea whispered to Amber, who shrugged in return.  
  
"Just don't tell Madam Christina," Duke chuckled.  
  
The gang followed Yami Bakura down the hallway and up to a door that had been closed off.  
  
"TRY the knob first," Tea insisted as Yami Bakura's Millennium Ring began glow again, and she suspected he was preparing to launch another attack on the door.  
  
"Fine," he snapped, reached out and roughly gasping the handle.   
  
He twisted it both ways and nothing happened.  
  
"Locked, see now?" he snapped at Tea, throwing her a dirty look.  
  
Tea shrank back a little.  
  
"Okay, but it was better to check first," she replied, crossing her arms.  
  
The Millennium Ring lit up and blasted down the door once again, in the same manner as the first door.  
  
Stepping over the crumbled door and bits and pieces of plaster that had fallen down due to the explosion, the gang entered into the sitting room. It probably would have been very nice looking, if it hadn't been for the still smoking hole in the back of the couch and in the wall.  
  
"What happened here?" Serenity asked nervously, holding back behind her brother.  
  
"Stay close everyone," Yugi instructed. "Whatever did all this might still be hanging around.   
  
Yami Bakura, however, walked forward. He was in no mood for "staying close" and walked through the darkened room, leaving the others behind.  
  
"Bakura! Wait! It might not be safe for you to go alone!" Yugi cried, walking after him.  
  
There was a clunk in the darkness of the room ahead.  
  
"You might not want to bring the females back here, or anyone else that gets scared over dead bodies," Yami Bakura's voice sounded in through the back of the room.  
  
"Dead bodies?" Yugi gasped, running forward.  
  
Yami Bakura was trying the handle of another door, while Yugi bent down to see who was lying on the floor. He gasped.  
  
"What's going on back there?" Joey demanded, walking forward next to Yugi who was kneeling beside the body. "Whoa! We've found Kaiba!" he cried, recognizing the so-called dead body.  
  
"Really?" Ishizu called, rushing forward with Lishito, Amber, and Tea, and Duke. (Serenity wasn't moving and Tristan didn't seem to have it in his heart to leave her behind.)  
  
Tea shrieked.  
  
"Is he dead?!" she gasped, looking down at the limp figure Yugi was bending over.  
  
"No, no, he's alive," Yugi said quickly, glaring up at Yami Bakura.  
  
Yami Bakura shrugged.  
  
"He looked as good as dead to me," he shrugged.  
  
"I wonder what happened to him..." Yugi thought as Ishizu knelt down next to him and put a finger to his wrist.  
  
There was a loud blast as Yami Bakura broke down yet another door.  
  
"Would you cut that out?!" Joey cried, agitated.  
  
"How else would you like us to progress?" Yami Bakura snapped, crossing his arms.  
  
Joey rolled his eyes.  
  
"Why not use one of those pointers to pick the lock?" he suggested.  
  
"Idiot," Yami Bakura hissed.  
  
"So, what happened to him?" Amber asked Yugi who was standing up again, brushing dust off of his pants.  
  
"I don't know, but I think we should take him somewhere else," he suggested.  
  
"I can take him back to the boat," Lishito offered, walking forward.  
  
Joey nodded.  
  
"Good idea, and could you please take Serenity back with you? I don't want anything to happen to her," Joey added with a shiver, looking down at Seto and not wanting his sister to suffer the same fate...whatever it had been.  
  
Lishito easily lifted Seto's limp form off the ground and turned to go back to the boat.  
  
"I'm going to find this Madam Christina lady and give her a good dose of shadow magic," Yami Bakura sneered, walking forward into the room through which he had gained access to by blasting down the door a moment ago.  
  
"I'll go with you," Ishizu said, walking forward.  
  
"You will not. I don't need a female's help," Yami Bakura snapped angrily.  
  
"You cannot stop me," Ishizu said simply. "But I do suggest we take this route instead." She pointed out another door that was bolted shut.  
  
Yami Bakura walked over to it, hissing angrily, and prepared to blow it down.  
  
"We'll take the way Yami Bakura had first," Yugi said, walking toward the door with Tea, Joey, and Tristan.  
  
"And we'll go outside and try to run interference," Amber said with a wink, indicating herself and Duke.  
  
"I will come with you, nesan," Malik said, as Yami Bakura blew down the door.  
  
There was a strange noise from Yami Bakura, but Ishizu ignored it.  
  
"Let's go," she said, walking forward into the new passageway.  
  
"I lead, woman," Yami Bakura snapped, shoving her gently out of the way and taking the lead.  
  
"I hope Kaiba will be okay," Yugi thought as his group walked through the dark passageway, and into the next room.  
  
******  
  
End of Chapter 14  
  
Please leave a review, and let us know what you thought.  
  
"Next chapter up tomorrow or Monday!" ;) 


	15. Chapter 15: Teamwork

Chapter 15: Teamwork  
  
Mokuba stepped out of the helicopter and looked around. A gentle wind was blowing by, rustling the trees, but other than that, all was silent. Nothing was moving.   
  
Mokuba squinted into the distance. There seemed to be something now on the other side of the island, sitting in the waters tied to the shore.   
  
"I'm going to go check something for a second," Mokuba called to the pilot. "I'll be back in a few minutes."  
  
"Would you like me to come with you?" The pilot asked.   
  
  
  
Mokuba shook his head no as he started off down the street. A few minutes later, he found himself in front of the moderate sized boat.  
  
"Hmm...this looks kind of familiar..." He muttered, wondering how to ask the people on the boat if they would talk with him.  
  
He wrapped loudly on the side of the boat, producing a loud, tin-like, clang.  
  
Inside the boat, Serenity was drinking a glass of water and Lishito was looking after Seto when a strange clanging noise suddenly was heard inside the boat.  
  
"What is that, Lishito-san?" Serenity asked nervously.  
  
"I will find out, miss," Lishito replied, getting up and walking toward the deck.   
  
Outside on the deck, he looked down and saw Mokuba tapping on the side of the boat.  
  
"Hel-lo?!" Mokuba called.  
  
"Mokuba?" Lishito called down and Mokuba looked up.  
  
"Lishito! What are you guys doing here?" Mokuba called up, blinking in surprise.  
  
"Come up the ladder, and I will explain," Lishito instructed.  
  
*******  
  
"So you don't know what happened to my ni-sama?" Mokuba asked looking at his older brother, who was sleeping, or just plain unconscious, on a couch in the boat.  
  
"We do not," Lishito replied.  
  
Mokuba sighed.  
  
Seto's eyes opened slightly and he looked up to see Mokuba and Lishito looking down at him.  
  
"Mokuba? What's going on?" he asked, confused.  
  
"Ni-sama, take it easy," Mokuba said, concerned. "Lishito and everyone else found you knocked out in Madam Christina's house! What happened?"  
  
Seto lay there for a moment, collecting the memories...;he had been shocked by that strange green ball...  
  
"I was shocked by one of the green orbs in that sitting room while I was waiting, and that's all I remember," Seto replied, thinking back to the moment.  
  
"Well, do you feel ok now?" Mokuba asked, studying his brother.  
  
"Yes, I do..." Seto started to reply as he sat up. "I'm fine."  
  
He rubbed his head and looked embarrassedly around at the others in the room. Serenity was watching the two brothers talk, but Lishito had gone back up on the deck.  
  
"Where are the others?" Seto asked, hating to think that he had been unconscious and had to have been "rescued" by Yugi and his friends.  
  
"They're trying to find Madam Christina," Mokuba replied.  
  
Seto stood up and brushed himself off.  
  
"Then I'll assist them," he said, walking toward the door.  
  
"Ni-sama! Wait!" Mokuba cried, running after his brother.  
  
Seto put his hands on Mokuba's shoulders and leaned close to him.  
  
"Listen, Mokuba," he said seriously. "This woman is dangerous; you saw what she did to me. I don't want you to get hurt. Please stay here."  
  
  
  
Mokuba looked down at the ground.  
  
"I...I will, ni-sama," Mokuba said reluctantly. "But only if you promise me to be careful."  
  
Seto smiled.  
  
"Of course," he replied, standing up again and walking out the door.  
  
Lishito was sweeping off the deck from the debris that had blown onto it from the winds.  
  
"Stay with Mokuba and Joey's sister," Seto instructed, climbing down the ladder to the dock.  
  
"Are you sure you feel well enough to go out like this, Mr. Kaiba?" Lishito asked, looking down as Seto jumped the last three steps to the floor.  
  
"I'm fine," Seto said quickly in reply as he walked down the street and back to Madam Christina's.  
  
*******  
  
"I think it would be wiser to find a better light source before continuing," Ishizu suggested as they walked through a dark tunnel-like passageway.  
  
"I DON'T need your advice, woman," Yami Bakura snapped in reply, his ring providing the light that prevented him from tripping over things, however, Ishizu and Malik, who were behind him, did not benefit much from this source of light.  
  
"Why not listen to nesan, Bakura?" Malik suggested, walking forward to be nearer to him so he wouldn't lose his way. (He took his sister's hand so she wouldn't trip.)  
  
"Why should we?" Yami Bakura snapped in reply as he felt along the wall so he wouldn't trip over anything. (Millennium Ring light is not very bright when it's the only thing you're looking around with)  
  
Malik cringed.  
  
"Uh...never mind then," he replied timidly, following after the evil spirit.  
  
"Careful," Ishizu warned. "We are entering dangerous territory," she added.  
  
"Danger. Hmph. I don't fear danger," Yami Bakura stated bluntly as they continued down the hall.  
  
"You haven't changed, Bakura," Malik sighed with a slight smile, although neither Yami Bakura nor Ishizu could see it.  
  
Yami Bakura made a huffing noise.  
  
"You, on the other hand, have," he retorted.  
  
*******  
  
Yugi, Tea, Tristan, and Joey made their way down a staircase towards what appeared to be the basement of Madam Christina's house. But so far, they had found no sign of Madam Christina, or any other evil minions that she might have at her disposal.  
  
"This is stupid. Let's just go outside and start yelling. That'll get her coming," Joey suggested as he tripped down a few steps before regaining his balance.  
  
Tristan rolled his eyes.  
  
"And end up like Kaiba?" he asked, causing Joey to fall silent.  
  
Yugi, Tristan and Joey continued forward and reached the bottom of the darkening staircase.  
  
"Whoa," Yugi breathed as he looked around.   
  
They had definitely reached the basement, but what was inside was something no one was preparing for. Inside were dozens of sparkling bronze and silver, and even some that looked like solid gold, pieces of antiques and priceless items.  
  
"I wonder if this stuff is genuine!" Joey cried, running up to a golden globe.  
  
"I don't know, but I wouldn't touch anything!" Tristan scolded, running after Joey.  
  
"Where did she get all this stuff?" Yugi wondered, looking at a statue of a strange peacock. "Are there evil spirits inside these artifacts too?"  
  
Suddenly, a shriek pierced the silence of the basement, the scream echoing several times.  
  
"Tea!" Yugi cried, turning around so quickly that he knocked the peacock to the floor, causing the bronze to shatter into several pieces.  
  
"Watch it Yug!" Joey cried, then heard Tea's shriek. "Hey, that's Tea! Where is she?"  
  
"I don't know," Yugi cried, running out into another dark room. "But we've got to find her!"  
  
Tristan nodded, and he and Joey raced after Yugi.   
  
Behind them, a strange blue mist was flowing up from the broken pieces of the bronze peacock and forming into a wispy shape in the air...  
  
*******  
  
Meanwhile, Duke and Amber were tromping through a large, overgrown garden outside the house. The weeds were taller than Amber's shins and appeared as though they hadn't be mowed in ages.  
  
"You'd think someone as rich as this lady could afford a gardener," Amber complained, tripping over some taller weeds.  
  
Duke grabbed her arm before she tripped.  
  
"Thanks," she replied before continuing the conversation. "Or at LEAST pay some kid to cut the lawn."  
  
Duke shrugged.  
  
"I don't know," Duke sighed, looking at the windows, trying to figure out which window would be the one belonging to Madam Christina's room.  
  
He stopped.  
  
"Huh?" Amber asked, turning around and staring at Duke who was looking up at the windows.  
  
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of different colored dice.  
  
"You think we ought to just start tossing stuff at the windows until we get her attention?" he asked, looking at his friend.  
  
A mischevious grin spread over Amber's face as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a bunch of amber-colored marbles.  
  
"Oh yeah!" she said, taking aim and tossing one of her marbles up at the window, her amber pendant around her neck flapping around as she threw it.  
  
The marble soared up to the top floor of the three-story house (or at least, it was three stories to them. They didn't know about the basement.) and clinked off the window pane.   
  
Amber ran over to retrieve her marble as Duke took aim with one of his dice.  
  
"Nice shot," he commented when she came back with her marble and he threw his die at the same window.  
  
It, too, clinked off the window and flew back toward them. Duke reached out a hand and caught the die before it hit the ground.  
  
"Nice CATCH," Amber commented, as they both tossed a marble and a die at the window.  
  
"Now, I wonder how long it will take for someone to see us," Duke wondered out loud.  
  
********  
  
End of Chapter 15  
  
"Please leave us a review and let us know what you think!"  
  
Thanks for reading!  
  
"I wonder how many chapters Amber and Duke will be standing there tossing dice and marbles at the window..."  
  
( That's NOT funny, Red. The readers will just have to come back tomorrow to find out. 


	16. Chapter 16: The Evil

Chapter 16: The Evil  
  
Note: About the Japanese words: Although oniisan IS spelled with two I's, nesan is only spelled with one e. I looked it up in a Japanese dictionary.   
  
Thanks for the help, though. ^_^  
  
"Let's see here…yes, Yami Bakura might have hurt feelings, but I think, at least in this case, he was more angry at Malik for turning good than anything else."  
  
And I love cute Seto and Mokuba scenes, so I always try to add one or two in a story. ^_^   
  
But I don't think I'll be adding Shadi to this story. I've got a wonderful plan for him NEXT story. ;)  
  
"Well, I think that's all….let's get going with Chapter 16!  
  
********  
  
Chapter 16:  
  
"Tea!" Yugi called, walking down another darkened stairway. "Tea! Where are you!"  
  
"Yo! Tea! Yell or something, would you?!" Joey yelled, causing Tristan to glare at him.  
  
"What?" Joey said innocently, bumping into the back of Yugi's head. "I'm just trying to help find her, you know."  
  
Tristan rolled his eyes, but Joey couldn't see him.  
  
*******  
  
Meanwhile, Yami Bakura, Malik, and Ishizu had found themselves in a large, bright room. There was a long dining table in the middle covered in a lacy white cloth, and there was a large chandelier overhead.  
  
"This looks a lot more inviting than that hallway we were just in," Malik said with a smile.  
  
Yami Bakura crossed his arms and continued to walk.  
  
"Let's just find this lady, kill her, and be done with this whole matter," he said bluntly, walking across the room.  
  
"K..kill her?" Malik cried, running after his "friend." "You don't always have to kill the villain, you know. You could always give them room for change."  
  
Yami Bakura laughed and turned to Malik.  
  
"It's hard to tell that the caring boy in front of me was, at one time, the Malik who I met in Battle City," Yami Bakura said, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"There's always room for change," Malik said coolly, looking away.  
  
Yami Bakura sneered.  
  
"Sure, but if change means becoming a person like little Yugi, I doubt I'd ev…" he began, but was cut off by a scream.  
  
Ishizu, who had been letting the two boys argue, now looked around.  
  
"Who was that?" she asked in a hushed voice.  
  
Malik closed his eyes.  
  
"I…I think I know!" he said, looking up at his sister again. "It's Tea!"  
  
"How did you know?" Yami Bakura asked suspiciously.  
  
** "In Battle City, when my body was possessed by the evil from my heart, I took over Tea's body frequently, to talk to people." Malik replied. "You should remember that."  
  
Yami Bakura nodded. **  
  
  
  
"Let Yugi and his friends worry about her, let's just keep going," he said, walking over to the door, pulling it open, and walking through.  
  
Malik looked up at Ishizu.  
  
"What should we do, nesan?" he asked her, staring after Bakura.  
  
Ishizu looked down at her brother.  
  
"Malik, can you go and find the others? I don't trust that man alone, and I think you could find the others easier than I could," she said, walking forward.  
  
"But nesan," Malik protested. "I don't want you alone with him. What if he…"  
  
Ishizu smiled.  
  
"If he hurts me, he'll have broken his promise with Yugi. Then Yugi won't help him do what he was out to do. Don't worry," she said to him before running after Yami Bakura.  
  
Malik nodded.  
  
  
  
"All right, nesan!" he called, taking off in the opposite direction.  
  
*********  
  
Seto was walking through the now empty house. The green orb that had shocked him didn't appear to be moving anymore, so he walked right by it and continued through the door Yugi and his part of the gang had taken.  
  
"Hmm…I wonder where Yugi and his friends went," he wondered, looking around at the dark hallway.  
  
As he walked, he tripped over a large book in the middle of the hallway. Regaining his balance by leaning against the wall, he glared down at it. It was so dark he hadn't noticed it.  
  
"Doesn't this women like any lights in her house?" he muttered, walking forward again.  
  
********  
  
Outside, Duke was sitting down in a patch of weeds and Amber was still throwing marbles up at the window. Duke had lost all but 5 of his dice, and had given up on the distraction idea.  
  
"Come on Amber, let's try something else," he pleaded as she ran to retrieve another marble.  
  
She sighed as she brushed the mud off of the marble.  
  
"Okay," she sighed. "What should would do now?" she inquired as Duke got to his feet and brushed himself off.  
  
Duke pointed to the side of the house. There was a large white door.  
  
"Let's go inside and see if we can't find the others…" Duke said, running over to the door and pulling it open. He gulped.  
  
"Or Madam Christina," Amber added as they walked inside and shut the door.  
  
*********  
  
Malik hurried back through the halls that he and Yami Bakura and Ishizu had just walked through so slowly. It was a lot darker now without any light from the Millennium Ring to guide him, but he continued on his way.  
  
When he got back into the main room, he turned and ran down the hallway that Yugi had taken, only to ram into the maid, causing her to drop her pitcher of ice tea.  
  
She shrieked as Malik backed away.  
  
"I'm sorry miss, I…" He stammered, but she put her hands to her mouth and screamed.  
  
  
  
"Who are you?! What are you doing in the house?!" she cried.  
  
Malik cringed and bolted down the hallway and away from the startled maid.  
  
********  
  
Seto was walking along when suddenly, he heard someone running up behind him. Quickly, he flattened himself against the wall and prepared to strike when he heard a crash, as the person running tripped, skidded, and landed a few feet from Seto.  
  
Seto squinted through the darkness at the figure.  
  
"Yugi?" he asked as the boy stood up.  
  
"No, Malik," The boy replied, walking closer. "And…" he squinted. "Seto Kaiba! So you're all right?"  
  
"Yes," Seto replied, looking back from where Malik had just come. "Where are the others, and why were you running?"  
  
Malik sighed.  
  
"My sister and Bakura are down one way, I think Tea's in trouble, I heard her scream, the…black haired kid with the dice and his girlfriend are in the yard, and Yugi has everyone else. They went down this path, so I was going to follow them, but I bumped into the maid and she started screaming at me." Malik said quickly in one jumbled sentence.  
  
Seto blinked.  
  
"I guess we ought to find out what happened to Tea first," Malik added.  
  
Seto shrugged.   
  
"I suppose," he replied, and the two began walking down the hallway together.  
  
********  
  
Meanwhile, Mokuba, Serenity, and Lishito were sitting around the boat, looking worried.  
  
"I hope my oniichan is alright," Serenity said worriedly, playing with the ice in her glass as she sat across from Mokuba at the table.  
  
"I hope MY nii-sama is alright," Mokuba added, looking up at Lishito. "You think they'll come back soon?" he asked.  
  
Lishito nodded.  
  
"I'm sure they will come back fine," he replied.  
  
Mokuba sighed.  
  
"I hope so…" he said.  
  
*******  
  
Yugi, Joey, and Tristan had made it down to the bottom of the staircase.  
  
"How many "bottom" floors does this place have?!" Joey exclaimed as Yugi opened the door. "I mean, this is a staircase going DOWN from the basement!!"  
  
Tristan shrugged.  
  
  
  
"I don't know," he replied, opening the door.  
  
Inside the room was…nothing. It was a completely empty room aside from one safe on the wall. Yugi walked inside, closely followed by Joey and Tristan.  
  
"Is this room still under-construction or something?" Joey asked, looking around.  
  
Yugi shrugged.  
  
"I don't know…" he mumbled. "But I'm really starting to worry about Tea. Where is she? And if she's not down here, then where could she have gone?"  
  
Joey sighed.  
  
"That's a good question, buddy," he said, patting Yugi's shoulder. "But don't worry, I'm sure she's ok. All that dancing probably gets her really in shape. If someone attacked her she'd be fine."  
  
Tristan glared at Joey.  
  
"Not the right thing to say, PAL," he said through gritted teeth.  
  
As they turned around, they suddenly saw their path was blocked by a strange blue misty bird.  
  
"Uh oh…" Joey muttered, backing up as the bird let off a shock of blue electricity. "Not another one!"  
  
********  
  
End of Chapter 16  
  
Please leave a review, and come back tomorrow or Monday for the next chapter!  
  
"Thanks for reading!" ^_^ 


	17. Chapter 17: Unusual Rescues

Chapter 17: Unusual Rescues  
  
Notes: First of all, sorry for not updating in a week. -_-; I was working on another story, "Ancient Lies" and that took up most of my writing time.  
  
"But updates should be daily from now on, don't worry." ^_~  
  
And I guess that's all for the notes...except that I really don't want to be spelling Japanese words wrong in my story, but I guess I'll just go by the dictionary spelling for now.  
  
"Okay! Chapter 17, begin!"  
  
*******  
  
"Eh...got any bright ideas, Yugi?" Joey asked as he and Yugi and Tristan backed up toward the wall, away from the peacock spirit.  
  
The spirit let off another burst of electricity, causing Joey to jump. The Millennium Puzzle glowed for a moment, and then Yami took over Yugi's body.  
  
"I have an idea, though I'm not sure it will work without Yami Bakura's help," he said, looking at the menacing-looking bird as it advanced on them.  
  
"I'd say any idea is worth a shot now!" Tristan cried, looking horrified as the peacock turned a book on the floor into a pile of ashes in one electric-blue shock.  
  
Joey gulped.  
  
"Go for it man," he said shakily.  
  
Yami nodded.  
  
"CRUSH!" he thundered, thrusting his hand forward, the puzzle glowing and the Millennium Eye symbol appearing on his forehead.  
  
There was a horrible crushing sound, like glass shattering under the weight of a rock. The spirit of the peacock swirled around, spinning smaller, and smaller in front of them until it turned into a wisp of blue smoke and vanished.  
  
Joey blinked.  
  
"Wow." He said simply. "Now that was something."  
  
Tristan walked forward, waving his hand around to blow away the smoke remaining from the "explosion."   
  
"AND, it worked," he added.  
  
"Eh, that to," Joey added, turning to Yugi. "Come on! We've got to find Tea."  
  
Yugi (Yami had gone back into the puzzle) nodded.  
  
"Come on! She could've been confronted by another one of those spirits!" Yugi added, running out the door, just the way they came in moments before.  
  
"Something makes me think this house is a maze, and we're lost in it," Joey muttered, as he and Tristan hurried after their friend.  
  
*******  
  
Malik and Seto walked down the dark hallways, the same path Yugi and his friends had taken only twenty minutes before.  
  
"So, what happened to you anyway, Kaiba?" Malik asked as they walked, feeling along the walls so he wouldn't fall into something.  
  
Seto huffed.  
  
"I was shocked by some sort of orb, and knocked out," he said simply, in a tone that made Malik fall silent.  
  
The two abruptly stopped walking as a strange and muffled cry from nearby filled the hallway.  
  
"Was that...Tea?" Malik asked, looking around.  
  
Seto looked around as well. It DID sound a lot like the shriek they had heard before.  
  
"Tea?" Malik called softly.  
  
"..help me!" Came a muffled voice and Seto raised his eyebrows.  
  
The voice was coming from beneath them.  
  
"Tea? Where are you...yikes!" Malik cried, walking forward and disappearing from sight.  
  
Seto carefully walked forward, eyes wide. The floor in front of him LOOKED solid enough, but maybe it was a trap. Looking around, he saw a large book. He picked it up and, watching carefully, tossed it a few feet in front of him.  
  
The floor flopped open on one end and the book fell down. Then, as if it were attached to elastic, the loose piece of floor flopped back up again.  
  
"Ow!" Came Malik's muffled voice from under the floor.  
  
"What is it?" Came Tea's.  
  
There was a shuffle as if someone was walking.  
  
"It's a book. Hey! Kaiba! Can you hear me!" Malik called.  
  
Seto bent down near the flapping floorboard. He pushed it open and looked down.   
  
A few feet down from the surface of the floor was Tea, covered in dust, and Malik, who was rubbing his head with one hand, and holding the book in the other.  
  
"Hey Kaiba! Can you get us out of here?" Tea called up to him.  
  
"And did you throw this book?" Malik asked, holding the book Seto had used as a experiment up in his hands.  
  
Seto nodded.  
  
"Sorry about that," he apologized gruffly, looking around for a piece of rope or something to help out the two. "I'll see if I can find something."  
  
"Okay," Tea called back up again.  
  
"So how did you get down here, Tea?" Malik asked, tossing the book aside.  
  
Tea sighed.  
  
"I was walking behind everyone else," she explained. "And I guess by the time I walked over this floor, it finally gave way."  
  
Malik nodded.  
  
"I see," he said. "Well it's a good thing you shrieked."  
  
Tea blushed.  
  
"Actually, I just screamed because I thought I saw a spider on the wall," she said shivering. "I hate spiders."  
  
Malik laughed, to Tea's annoyance.  
  
*******  
  
"This house is creepy," Amber said to Duke, as the two walked through the dimly lit kitchen.  
  
There was a beautiful and highly polished oak table in the center, surrounded by wooden chairs of the same tree-type, carved with pictures of flowers.  
  
The only window, (which had a slight crack in it from one of Duke's dies) was trimmed with dusty embroidered curtains. The whole room was wood; the floors, the walls, and all of the other pieces of furniture.  
  
A pot of tea was brewing on the stove, and a plate of cookies was sitting on the counter.  
  
"Cookies aren't THAT creepy," Duke commented, inhaling deeply. "They smell delicious."  
  
  
  
Amber narrowed her eyes.  
  
"That's not QUITE what I meant," she said dryly, opening a door and finding a broom closet. "Whoops! I thought this would be the way out of here." She said, pushing a falling broom roughly back into the cabinet and shutting the door.  
  
"Here's a door," Duke whispered, opening a swinging door and looking out into a dark hallway. "But this hallway looks too dark. We might fall down a staircase or something."  
  
Amber shrugged as she walked over to the door.  
  
"Let's leave the door open then, so a little light'll be shining in here at least," she said, propping the door open with a gray statue of a cat.  
  
Duke walked out into the hallway, a floorboard squeaking under his weight.  
  
"Okay," he sighed.  
  
*******  
  
A white ball on the armchair of Madam Christina's lit up suddenly, and she rubbed it.   
  
"I see..." she murmured, closing her eyes. "Visitors. I suppose I ought to go and "greet" them, and take possession of the things I desire..."  
  
She stood up and walked toward the door to her office, a soft grin on her face.  
  
"This should prove to be quite an experience for my guests," she added, walking out into a dark hallway.  
  
*******  
  
Ishizu and Yami Bakura walked into a large room made completely of gray stone. Ishizu's shoes clicked on the floor, and since the ceilings were so high, each click echoed through the room.  
  
"Would you take off those blasted shoes, woman?!" Yami Bakura hissed angrily, looking around with suspicion.   
  
The room looked more like an old cave than a room in a house.  
  
"I'm sorry," Ishizu replied, looking around.   
  
Two more orbs were hanging on the walls. Purple ones, this time.  
  
"I sense a dark presence in this room," Ishizu said, narrowing her eyes.  
  
"Me," Yami Bakura snapped, walking toward the center of the room.  
  
"Not you, something else..." she said mystically.  
  
"Listen, woman, I'm in no mood to hear your prophecies, now will you just stay quiet or else help me find this mad woman who sets birds loose on her enemies?" Yami Bakura requested through gritted teeth.  
  
Suddenly, one of the orbs lit up and began to spin wildly around. Then, it locked onto Ishizu.  
  
"What in the..." Yami Bakura cried, as the orb suddenly blasted a ray of purple electricity at Ishizu...  
  
*******  
  
Yugi, Tristan, and Joey walked back up the staircase and back into the hallway they had been walking in earlier.  
  
"Tea!" Tristan called.  
  
"Huh?" Came Tea's voice, directly underneath Yugi, Joey, and Tristan.  
  
Yugi's eyes lit up.   
  
"Tea!" he cried, running forward...and falling down into the hole.  
  
He was joined a second later by Tristan and Joey, who landed on top of each other. Tea and Malik blinked.  
  
"Guys?" she asked, rushing over and brushing the dust off of Yugi's blue coat. "What are you doing down here?"  
  
Joey groaned and stood up.  
  
"It's so much prettier down here than it is upstairs," he joked, squinting around in the darkness. "How're we going to get out?" he asked, more seriously.  
  
"Kaiba's finding a rope or something," Malik explained. "I just hope he doesn't end up falling down here as well."  
  
Yugi grinned.  
  
"I doubt he would," he replied, looking up at the ceiling. (Really the floor of the above room)  
  
*******  
  
Seto was walking down the hallway, when he suddenly bumped into Duke and Amber who were walking in the opposite direction.  
  
"Whoa! Hey...Kaiba! You're..." Duke began but Seto cut him off.  
  
"Fine. I'm fine," he said shortly. "But Tea and Malik are caught under the floor, and I need some rope or something to get them out."  
  
Amber cocked her head.  
  
"How'd they get under the floor?" she asked curiously.  
  
Seto shrugged.  
  
"Trap floor, I guess you'd call it," he replied shortly. "Any ideas?"  
  
Duke put his hand to his chin, thinking. Seto's eyes suddenly lit up.  
  
"Say...can I borrow your vest?" he asked Duke, pointing to the red vest he was wearing.  
  
Duke looked down at it.  
  
"Oh...I guess you can," he replied, looking surprised, as he pulled it off and handing it to Seto, who took off his own white jacket.  
  
Amber snapped her fingers.  
  
"Oh! Tie them together and they might be long enough to get them out!" she said as Seto tied the two in a knot and began walking back the way he had came.  
  
Seto nodded, though Amber couldn't see it in the darkness.  
  
Duke and Amber followed, and soon they found themselves back at the trap floor. Duke opened it and Seto draped down the two coats. But after looking down, he stopped, and raised an eyebrow.  
  
"How did you three get in there?" he asked, looking down at Yugi, Joey, and Tristan.  
  
"Eh...decided to join the party," Joey said casually, hoping not to look stupid.  
  
Seto grinned.  
  
"Looks like you all fell for the trap floor," he said with a smile.  
  
Joey crossed his arms angrily.  
  
  
  
"Just help us out!" he called up, frowning.  
  
Seto draped down the rest of the coat and vest-rope creation.  
  
"I think this will support one at a time," Seto replied, tying the rope to a loose piece of wood on the wall.  
  
Tea tugged once on it.  
  
"Okay! I'll try it!" she called, starting to climb up.  
  
A few minutes later, she'd made it to the top.  
  
"Whew!" she sighed, letting go, and teetering toward the edge a little.  
  
Seto grabbed her hand and pulled her forward.  
  
"Uh, thanks," she said, backing up next to Amber and Duke.  
  
Seto didn't reply.  
  
In no time at all, all of the gang were back up on the main floor, tired, and covered in dirt and dust. Joey rubbed his back.  
  
"Yo, Tristan? Next time you want a cushion, don't try me," he said grumpily.  
  
Tristan put his hand behind his head.  
  
"Eh...sorry about that man," he replied, then looked at the others.  
  
"So where are Bakura and Ishizu?" Yugi asked, noticing they weren't with the others.  
  
"They went a different way!" Malik exclaimed, remembering. "Come on! We need to hurry and follow, in case they need help."  
  
Malik took off down the hallway. Tea sighed.  
  
"Let's go then!" Yugi told the others, chasing after Malik.  
  
The others followed.  
  
*******  
  
Yami Bakura rushed forward and shoved Ishizu out of the way of the purple ray, then deflected it with his Millennium Ring. The redirected ray plummeted back at the orb, destroying it, and showering him and Ishizu, who was sprawled on the floor, a bit shocked, with bits of glass.  
  
Ishizu shakily got to her feet, looking strangely at Yami Bakura.  
  
"You..." she started, but he cut her off.  
  
"Don't expect me to do that once this is all over," he snapped, turning away. "I want Yugi to keep his end of the bargain, and a dead lady won't be very persuading."  
  
Ishizu sighed, looking around.  
  
The evil presence hadn't left the area. In fact, she was now sensing it stronger than ever....  
  
*******  
  
End of Chapter 17  
  
"PLEASE review! And Come back tomorrow or the next day for Chapter 18!"  
  
^_^ Thanks for reading. 


	18. Chapter 18: The Ever Turning Tide

Chapter 18: The Ever-Turning Tide  
  
"I still sense it..." she muttered, looking around wildly.  
  
Yami Bakura hissed.  
  
"One more word on this "presence" and I will wish that blast HAD finished you off," he growled through gritted teeth, but Ishizu took no notice.  
  
"It's..." she began again, walking forward, her shoes clicking once again on the stone floor.  
  
"Woman...!" Yami Bakura snapped, when a laugh cut him off.  
  
"Over here," Came a silky, and evil voice from the shadows.  
  
*******  
  
Back at the boat, Mokuba and Serenity jumped up.  
  
"What was that explosion?!" Mokuba cried, looking frantically over at Lishito.  
  
Lishito stood up and walked over to the deck, looking over at Madam Christina's house.  
  
"I am not sure," he replied, squinting in the sunlight.  
  
Serenity hurried out on the deck as well, her hand up at her neck.  
  
"Do you think my oniichan was hurt?" she asked worriedly.  
  
Mokuba started to sweat.  
  
"We need to do something other than stand around here waiting, Lishito!" Mokuba cried, running over to him. "Can't we please go help?"  
  
Lishito sighed. Mokuba reminded him of Malik when he was little, and **begging to go outside for a day, when he talked like that. But how could he let them after what Seto had said...  
  
"Please, Lishito-san! What if they are in trouble?" Serenity pleaded, walking forward.  
  
Lishito smiled sadly. He couldn't refuse.  
  
"All right," he agreed finally. "But you must promise to stay right beside me. I promised your brothers I would watch you."  
  
  
  
"Arigato!" Serenity said happily, a smile breaking out over her face.  
  
"Thanks!" Mokuba added, running over to the ladder. "Let's go!"  
  
*******  
  
Yugi and his friends stopped dead in the middle of the dining room Ishizu and Yami Bakura had passed through earlier.  
  
"W..what was that explosion?!" Tea cried, her eyes wide with worry.  
  
"I don't know..." Malik trailed off, looking forward. "But it probably involved nesan and Bakura!"  
  
Yugi and the others hurried down the hallway and into the large stone room in which Yami Bakura and Ishizu were standing, staring wide-eyed ahead of them at someone in the shadows.  
  
"Nesan!" Malik cried, running over to his sister.  
  
She didn't turn to look at him; she was too focused on the person in front of her.  
  
  
  
"What's going on here?" Yugi cried, running over to Yami Bakura.  
  
Then, he caught sight of what everyone else was looking at as well, and gasped.  
  
"Madam Christina!" he cried as the woman walked forward, an evil smile on her face and a white orb in her hand.  
  
"Welcome, my guests," she said happily, just as she had back when she was announcing the Antique Tournament a few months ago. "Welcome to my manor."  
  
Yami Bakura stalked forward, ring glowing madly.  
  
"All right, woman," he snapped, narrowing his eyes at her. "Give up or die."  
  
She giggled, walking forward carelessly.  
  
"Are those the ONLY options?" she asked with a laugh, causing Yami's Bakura's eyes to narrow in anger.  
  
"Are you mocking me, woman?" he snapped.  
  
"You could say that," she said slyly, putting her hand to her chin thoughtfully.  
  
"Why...!" Yami Bakura cried, attempting to lunge forward but Malik and Joey held him back by his arms, pinning them behind his back.  
  
"Unhand me...!" he growled angrily, struggling against their grips as the Millennium Puzzle glowed, and Yami's spirit took over Yugi's body.  
  
"Madam," he said smoothly, looking straight into her eyes. "Why are you doing this to us?" he asked.  
  
She looked at him, eyebrows raised.  
  
"Why? Dear boy?" she asked playfully, tossing the small orb up and down in her hand. "Because I love only two things; chaos, and antiques."  
  
"Man, does she need a new hobby," Tristan muttered to Tea, who promptly elbowed him in reply.  
  
"And using these spirits trapped in these antiques, it's quite easy for me to enjoy BOTH pleasures in life at once," she giggled, catching the orb once more and keeping it clenched in her fist.  
  
"Why would anyone take pleasure in chaos?" Seto muttered to himself, but Madam Christina overheard.  
  
She laughed a cackle that echoed through the stone room and causing the hairs on everyone but Yami Bakura's neck to rise.  
  
"Because...I do," she muttered gleefully, holding out her palm and watching the tiny orb fly up into the air.  
  
"Have fun," she whispered, backing up, and the orb began shooting out white blasts at the gang.  
  
"Yow!" Joey cried, ducking under one and sprinting over to the wall. "What the heck...?!"  
  
Yami Bakura shook Malik off his arm and deflected one of the white blasts back at the orb, but a mirror-like shield appeared in front of it, deflecting the blast right back at Bakura, who deflected it again.  
  
"This isn't a game of ping-pong, Bakura!" Tristan yelled, shoving Tea out of the way of a blast, causing him to lose his balance and fall on top of her on the stone floor.  
  
"OW!" she cried, trying to get Tristan off of her.  
  
"Sorry!" he cried, rolling away as a blast nearly hit the two of them.  
  
Yami took Ishizu's hand and pulled her back where Tea and Tristan were now hiding, underneath a wooden staircase that seemed to lead up to a wooden platform, high above them.  
  
Amber and Duke were still running through the chaos.  
  
"Do you think that thing reflects dice and marbles?" Amber called out, practically cartwheeling away from a blast.  
  
Duke shrugged, pulling a square die out of his pocket.  
  
"There's only one way to find out, now isn't there?" he asked, taking aim and throwing the die up at the orb.  
  
  
  
To his delight, it went through the mirror barrier and clinked against the glass of the orb.  
  
"All right!" Amber cried, running forward to help out, but a blast in front of her feet caused her trip and skid into Seto, and the two fell over against the wall.  
  
"Ow," Seto moaned grumpily, looking up at the orb, which seemed to be focusing on the two of them.  
  
*******  
  
Mokuba, Serenity, and Lishito hurried down the streets up toward Madam Christina's house.  
  
"Come on!" Mokuba panted from the top of a hill, looking back at Serenity, who was panting a few feet down the hill, and Lishito, who was coming up behind him.  
  
"We have to hurry!" Mokuba said, breaking into another sprint, running ahead of the others.  
  
Serenity sighed, wiping the beads of sweat off of her forehead as she ran to catch up.  
  
  
  
"Please slow down! I can't run that...fast..." she panted, catching up with Lishito.  
  
"No time to slow down!" Mokuba called back at her. "Our brothers could be in trouble!"  
  
*******  
  
Meanwhile, Yami was climbing the wooden staircase, up to the platform, hoping for some sort of clue. Tristan and Joey were staying with Tea and Ishizu under the stairs, and Duke was pulling another die out of his pocket.  
  
Amber and Seto were trying to get untangled and out of the way of the path of the orb.  
  
"Hurry!" Amber cried, pulling herself upward.  
  
Duke threw a die at the orb, causing it to fall from the air where it had been suspended and clink around on the floor, still shooting madly.  
  
Madam Christina had vanished from the corner where she had been watching, Duke observed, as he jumped to avoid being de-footed by the blasts.  
  
Yami Bakura's Millennium Ring began to glow brightly and he shot out a greenish-blue blast at the orb, shattering it to pieces before everyone's eyes.  
  
Seto blinked as he stood up, looking around for any sign of Madam Christina.  
  
"There she is!" Amber cried, pointing up at the wooden platform, where she was standing, holding something in her arms.  
  
Seto squinted up.  
  
"Oh no!" he cried, his eyes going wide.  
  
"More of them!" Joey cried, as several orbs of various colors fell to the ground with clinking noises.  
  
Yami walked up toward the platform which was only a few stairs away now.  
  
"If I can just get up there..." he thought, hoping not to be spotted by Madam Christina.  
  
Madam Christina turned her gaze away from the chaotic atmosphere below and toward Yami instead, more specifically, his puzzle.  
  
"Ah...the Millennium Puzzle," she said out loud, looking down at it as Yami approached. "Containing ancient magic powerful enough to destroy with one command, and the only one of its kind; what a perfect addition to my collection it will make..."  
  
Yami hissed.  
  
"It isn't a collector's item," he snapped, nearing the final step. "And you'll never get it."  
  
She smiled.  
  
"I beg to differ..." she hissed quietly, smiling an evil grin.  
  
Yami put his foot on the last step...  
  
*******  
  
End of Chapter 18  
  
  
  
"Ooh! Not another cliffy!"  
  
Okay, so it's a big cliffhanger, but don't worry! Next chapter will be up soon. 


	19. Chapter 19: The Final Battle

Chapter 19: The Final Battle  
  
Note: Yep. Probably the last chapter here...so get ready for excitement! Conclusions! And, we will find out what happened to Mai and Taerro, have no fear.  
  
"...and get ready for a really long chapter. ^_~"  
  
  
  
OK, that too! So here we go!"  
  
******  
  
Chapter 19: The Final Battle  
  
As Yami reached the final step, there was a small flash of blue light, that engulfed everyone present. Several people screamed below, and Yami was engulfed in the light himself.  
  
A moment later, the light faded, and everyone looked around.  
  
"What was that for?" Duke asked, jumping away from one of the orbs on the ground.  
  
"I don't know," Seto snapped in reply, pulling Amber out of the way of an orb.  
  
Bakura stood in the middle of the chaos, his eyes wide. His Millennium Ring had stopped glowing, and he blinked.  
  
"What's going on?" he asked innocently.  
  
Malik rushed up to him.  
  
"Bakura?!" he cried, realizing Yami Bakura must have retreated.  
  
Bakura nodded.  
  
"That's who I THINK I am at least," he kidded, but stopped when he saw the orbs. "YAAA! What's all this!!!" he screamed, tugging on Malik's arm.  
  
Malik shook Bakura by his shoulders.  
  
"Yami Bakura, you'd better get out here now! That's really low, sending this guy out to fight!" Malik yelled, shaking poor Bakura.  
  
"Ma..li..k, ca...n...you...stop sha...king...me?" Bakura asked shakily.  
  
"Dolt," Came a voice from nowhere.  
  
"Huh?" Malik asked, letting go of Bakura, who looked quite relieved, and looking around.  
  
"For one thing, it's not like you haven't already put my host out to fight once," Yami Bakura's voice snapped.  
  
"And I'm not in here on my will you idiot," Yami Bakura's voice sounded through Malik's mind. "You don't think I'd actually put any trust in that fool."  
  
"Then what's going on...?" Malik asked, looking up at where Yami had been.  
  
He gasped.  
  
It was Yugi!  
  
"Wha...what's going on?" Yugi asked, looking around, but turned back to Madam Christina as she began laughing.  
  
"What's so funny?" Yugi demanded, clenching his fists in frustration.  
  
She stared at him with her dark brown eyes.  
  
"Dear boy," she laughed. "I am a master of keeping spirits locked in items, so any spirit now is unable to leave their item, meaning any help you may be getting from a spirit in that puzzle is now USELESS!"  
  
She laughed as Yugi just stared blankly at her.  
  
"Yami...is it true?" he asked, spiritually talking to his partner. "You can't help me?"  
  
Yami sighed.  
  
"I'm afraid not," His confident voice echoed through Yugi's mind. "But you can do it! Use the mind crush technique."  
  
Yugi started to sweat as his friends below battle the orbs. Duke kicked one across the room, causing it to shatter against the wall. Tristan and Joey were battling with one, Seto was trying Duke's technique in kicking them, Tea stepped on one and squashed it, and Amber and Ishizu were trying to get Bakura out of the way of harm, since he had no idea what was going on.  
  
"Just believe in yourself, Yugi..."Yami's fading voice called.  
  
"Yami!" Yugi cried.  
  
********  
  
Lishito, Mokuba, and Serenity ran through the dining room and into the stone room where the rest of the gang was fighting with the orbs.  
  
"What the...?" Mokuba cried as Serenity let out a shriek, bringing her hand quickly up to her mouth in horror.  
  
"Malik!" Lishito called as Malik dragged Bakura over to the enterance.  
  
"Lishito," Malik said curiously. "I thought you were staying with Serenity on the ship; and where did this boy come from?" He pointed to Mokuba.  
  
Lishito sighed.  
  
"Mr. Kaiba's brother," he explained as an orb shot a smoking hole in the wall. "And they begged me to come and see if everything was ok!"  
  
He ducked as a yellow blast rocketed by his head.  
  
"What is going on here?!" he asked, looking down at Malik and Bakura.  
  
"That's what I'd like to know, mates," Bakura replied, crossing his arms, worriedly.  
  
"Yugi!" Tea cried, looking up him as he stared down at a vaguely glowing Millennium Puzzle.  
  
"What's he doing?" Amber asked as she and Duke crushed the last of the magical orbs.  
  
She walked over to where Seto, Tea, Joey, and Tristan were looking up at Yugi.  
  
"Nii-sama!" Mokuba cried, running over to him.  
  
Seto smiled down at his brother, then looked back up at the scene taking place overhead.  
  
"What's wrong Yugi?" Tea cried, nervously, cupping her hands up to her mouth to make sure he could hear her.  
  
Yugi sighed.  
  
"I can't use mind crush," he sighed sadly.  
  
Tea's head jerked up.  
  
"What?" she asked the others.  
  
Malik nodded.  
  
"He needs to use mind crush to battle Madam Christina, but he doesn't think he can do it without the spirit of the puzzle's help," he informed her.  
  
Seto frowned as Madam Christina advanced on Yugi.  
  
"We have to buy him some time to get him to START thinking he can," Seto snapped, turning around and facing the others.  
  
Duke nodded and tossed one of his signature dice up at Madam Christina.  
  
"Foolish," she growled as the die hit her hand, knocking several orbs down at them. (Malik, Lishito, and Amber got right down to squishing them again)  
  
"Hey Yugi! We know you can do it!" Joey called up encouragingly.  
  
Tea nodded.  
  
"Just believe in yourself!" she added.  
  
Yugi looked down at the puzzle again.  
  
"I know you can...Yugi..." Came Yami's voice from it, causing Yugi to smile slightly.  
  
Seto looked down at his feet, where a spinning green orb was going around and around wildly. Taking off his jacket, he scooped up the little orb.  
  
"What are you doing?!" Tristan exclaimed, pointing at Seto.  
  
"Don't yell! My nii-sama knows what he's doing!" Mokuba snapped in reply for his brother.  
  
Duke snapped his fingers.  
  
"I get it!" he cried, as Seto flopped the jacket up, like a pillow, letting the tiny ball fly up into the air and crash down on the platform above.  
  
Madam Christina looked down, startled, to see what had caused the crash.  
  
"NOW YUGI!" Seto, Duke, Joey, Tea, and Ishizu all chorused.  
  
"Okay..." Yugi breathed nervously, then thrust his hand forward, his eyes closed tightly for fear of what might happen. "MIND CRUSH!"  
  
There was a cracking sound, and Madam Christina screamed. All the orbs that had not been destroyed suddenly evaporated into little puffs of colorful air that floated up and vanished near the ceiling. When the colors cleared, Yugi gasped.  
  
Madam Christina was still standing, although now, she looked a little different. Her eyes were a bit...bigger and happier looking, and she looked rather confused.  
  
"My, my, what on earth are we doing here?" she asked in a voice so much kinder and sweeter than the one she had been using earlier.  
  
Tea breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
"You do it Yugi!" she cried, running up the stairs to him and giving him a quick hug.  
  
Yugi blushed.  
  
"Thanks, Tea," he replied with an embarrassed grin.  
  
Seto blinked in confusion.  
  
"Wasn't that supposed to destroy his enemy?" he asked himself, but didn't dare mention it out-loud.  
  
There was no need to, he thought.  
  
"Young man, could you kindly tell me what we're doing?" she asked, looking at Yugi.  
  
Yugi grinned up at Tea.  
  
"Well, it's a long story..." he began.  
  
*********  
  
Twenty minutes later, the gang, Seto, Mokuba, the Ishtars, and Madam Christina were all sitting in her parlor. (She couldn't quite recall where the large hole-in-the-wall had come from...)  
  
Madam Christina sighed as the maid, (who had heartily apologized to Malik for screaming at him like that before; "I didn't realize you were a guest!") put down a plate of cookies.  
  
"I've always been fascinated with antiques and old things," she began, after Yugi had informed her of what she'd been doing. "I went to many shows and auctions, trying to find the perfect pieces to add to my collection."  
  
Yugi nodded.  
  
"But then I ran across some...strange objects." She continued. "The seemed to have voices in them..."  
  
"As the weeks went by, I became obsessed with finding more and more items with the spirits in them...and before I knew it, I'd become someone completely different from who I used to be."  
  
"I was just a chaotic woman who's only desire was to see my spirits in my antiques destroy," Madam Christina sighed.  
  
Amber patted her shoulder.  
  
  
  
"Aw, don't worry about it," Amber said reassuringly. "As long as you've gone straight now, it really doesn't matter."  
  
Everyone nodded in agreement.  
  
"But still! I need to do something to make up for what I've done to you and your friends," she insisted, looking around at them. "Is there anything you might want or need?" she asked.  
  
Ishizu looked up, her eyes lit up.  
  
"Well, I run the Egyptian Wing in Domino Museum, and..." she began but Madam Christina cut her off.  
  
"...I've got several interesting Egyptian pieces," she said agreeably. "You may certainly take a few back to your museum!"  
  
Ishizu smiled.  
  
"Thank you," she replied gratefully.  
  
"For once the woman's not talking about evil presences," Yami Bakura hissed, crossing his arms. "Now let's get back to the city and destroy the evil Taerro."  
  
Yugi smiled.  
  
"Don't worry, we will," he said with a grin, then looked down at the puzzle.  
  
"I knew you could do it, Yugi," Yami said, appearing beside him, spiritually.  
  
"I know. Thanks!" Yugi said to his partner.  
  
Seto stood up.  
  
"Well, it's been nice, but we have to be going," he said emotionlessly, turning to walk away. "Let's go, Mokuba."  
  
"Hey, Kaiba!" Yugi called, turning around and looking at him. "Thanks for all your help, you two. I couldn't have done it if you hadn't tossed that orb up there."  
  
Seto smiled a very, very small smile.  
  
"Forget it," he replied, though not angrily; more modestly than anything.  
  
"See you later guys!" Mokuba called, waving, as the two walked back outside into the evening sunshine.  
  
"That was quite an experience, ne, nii-sama?" Mokuba chirped brightly as they walked back toward Seto's helicopter.  
  
"Yes, it was," he replied, patting Mokuba's shoulder.  
  
"I'm glad that lady went back to being normal again, too," Mokuba said happily.  
  
Seto nodded.  
  
  
  
"Yes, that's always nice," he replied.  
  
"But I'm more happy that everyone's ok," Mokuba said seriously.  
  
Seto nodded again.  
  
"Yeah..." He looked back at the house where Yugi and his friends were walking out of, now.  
  
"I just hope we don't run into anything like this anytime soon," he said, grinning, and the two happily boarded the helicopter together.  
  
*******  
  
Joey stretched.  
  
"Now that was some adventure," he sighed, rubbing his own back, and looking around at his friends. Suddenly, he looked nervous.  
  
"Hey!" he cried, looking around. "Where's Mai?!"  
  
Yugi looked around. The blonde was nowhere in sight.  
  
"Perhaps she flew off the boat when we were going through that portal of Yami Bakura's," Duke suggested, but stopped after a death glare from Joey.  
  
"Hey!" Came a cheery voice from above everyone.  
  
The all looked up into the sky to see a helicopter of some sort, though not Seto's.  
  
"Hey guys!" Mai called, leaning out of the helicopter as it came down for a landing.  
  
Ishizu backed away, holding a box in her arms with the antiques that Madam Christina had given her.  
  
"M..Mai?!" Joey stammered as she hopped out of the helicopter and winked at the pilot.  
  
"Thanks sweetie!" she called to him. "I can get home from here."  
  
"K. No problem!" The Pilot called back and flew the helicopter away.  
  
"Mai what were you doing?!" Joey exclaimed.  
  
  
  
Mai frowned.  
  
"Well for the second time today, Joey, you left me behind. I fell out of the boat and you guys went through some weird portal without me, so I had to hitch a ride," she said angrily, smacking Joey's cheek slightly.  
  
"Ow, okay, okay!" Joey protested with a grin.  
  
Yami Bakura made an impatient sound.  
  
"Can we go defeat Taerro now?" he asked angrily, his arms crossed over his chest.  
  
Yugi smiled.  
  
Yami Bakura was so helpful, but he had a feeling things were going to go back to normal as soon as their deal was fulfilled.  
  
"A deal is a deal," Yugi said, as they started back to Malik's boat. "Let's go guys!"  
  
"Yeah!" Everyone else chorused, as they all walked back toward the boat, together, in the evening sunshine.  
  
********  
  
END OF STORY!  
  
Thanks for reading, and be sure to check out the sequel: "When you See a Black Cat..." (my 13th sotry on FanFiction.net) (!!)  
  
  
  
http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=1441483  
  
"Bye for now, everyone! And thanks so much for reading! ^_^" 


End file.
